Biggest mistake you made as a newbie?

[Katie]

When my chickens began to molt for the first time, I was convinced they had a severe mite infestation. I probably wouldn't have been so confused had they not started molting too early, but for whatever reason, they were triggered before it was really time. I treated their "mites" religiously until I finally found a vet to come out who explained they were just molting and I should discontinue treatment. Not my brightest moment! That's one of my gaffes, now let's hear some of yours.

 

[Almost Eden]

I thought two roosters would fight to the death, no matter what. It was RichZ who set me straight. I understand why you made that mistake when they were molting. Some chickens look pretty rough during that time.

 

[RichZ]

When I first got serious about my egg business, I order 50 chicks thru the mail. They all arrived safely and they were growing nicely. I kept them in a confined area, but I free range my chickens. When the chicks were about half grown, I released them to roam on my farm. I watch them for a few hours and when I was convinced they were safe and weren't staying too far, my wife and I went to town to do some errands. When we got back, almost all of the new half grown chicks were gone. Not a trace of them, but I did notice LOTS of hawks hanging around my farm. I never released chicks to free range until they were almost fully grown. Never had that problem again.

 

[Henderson]

I seriously underestimated just how smart pigs and goats are. I'd always been told that they were the dumbest livestock, but those people were dead wrong. They are crafty animals. It only took a couple of escapes before I changed my attitude. Goats also like attention and need toys to keep them stimulated. A bored goat is a future problem.

 

[Urban Homestead]

Letting the animals overpopulate. I was not good at determining the sexes and it didn't take long until I had a problem on my hands. I learned a lot the first few months that I decided to homestead.

 

[RichZ]

I seriously underestimated just how smart pigs and goats are. I'd always been told that they were the dumbest livestock, but those people were dead wrong. They are crafty animals. It only took a couple of escapes before I changed my attitude. Goats also like attention and need toys to keep them stimulated. A bored goat is a future problem.

Both goats and pigs are incredibly smart and both are escape artists. If you have some sort of mechanical latch on a gate, you can NEVER let goats see how it works, but they may figure it out anyway. I just usually chain the gates closed. They don't have thumbs, so they can't open a carbiner, but if goats had thumbs, they'd rule the world. Pigs aren't as mechanical astute as goats, but they can burrow under any gate and flip it open from underneath, and they can burrow under any fence, unless you bury it pretty deep. If all else fails, they are living bulldozers and they can break most fences.