The Nesting Box (PRE ORDER)
Common Mistakes New Chicken Keepers Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Raising chickens is incredibly rewarding, but there’s definitely a learning curve when you’re getting started. You can read every chicken book, watch countless videos, and prepare the perfect coop—and your chickens will still find a way to teach you something you weren’t expecting!
The good news?
Most beginner mistakes are completely avoidable once you know what to watch for.
From overcrowding the coop to giving too many treats, here are some of the most common mistakes new chicken keepers make—and what you can do instead.
1. Getting Chickens Before the Coop Is Finished
We’ve all seen those adorable chicks at the feed store.
You went in for chicken feed.
You don’t currently own chickens.
Somehow you’re leaving with six chicks.
The problem is that chickens grow much faster than many new keepers expect.
If you’re starting with chicks, it may feel like you have plenty of time to finish building the coop.
You probably don’t have as much time as you think!
How to Avoid It
Whenever possible, have your coop and run completely—or very nearly—finished before bringing your birds home.
Make sure you have:
- A secure coop
- Predator-proof fencing
- Roosting space
- Ventilation
- Appropriate bedding
- Feeders and waterers
- Nesting boxes for laying-age birds
- Secure doors and latches
You’ll enjoy your new chickens much more when you aren’t panic-building a coop while they rapidly outgrow their brooder.
2. Underestimating How Much Space Chickens Need
Small chicks don’t stay small for long.
Overcrowding can contribute to stress, feather picking, bullying, dirty bedding, competition for resources, and poor air quality.
How to Avoid It
Research the space requirements for the breeds you’re keeping and consider how much time they’ll spend confined.
As a general starting point, many keepers aim for approximately:
- 4 square feet of indoor coop space per standard-sized chicken
- 8–10+ square feet of outdoor run space per standard-sized chicken
Larger breeds may need more, while bantams may use less.
And whenever possible, give them more than the minimum.
Your chickens will appreciate it.
So will you when chicken math inevitably happens.
3. Buying a Coop Based Only on the Manufacturer’s Capacity
That cute little coop at the store says:
“Holds 8–10 chickens!”
Then you bring it home and realize it looks more appropriate for three pigeons and a hamster.
Capacity claims can vary considerably between manufacturers.
How to Avoid It
Look at the actual dimensions rather than simply trusting the advertised chicken capacity.
Calculate the usable floor space yourself and make sure there’s adequate:
- Roosting space
- Ventilation
- Nesting space
- Outdoor run space
Your breed matters too. Ten tiny bantams and ten enormous Brahmas have very different space requirements!
4. Using Chicken Wire as Your Only Predator Protection
The name is slightly misleading.
Chicken wire is excellent at keeping chickens in.
It isn’t necessarily good at keeping predators out.
Raccoons and other predators may be able to tear, reach through, or find weaknesses in lightweight fencing.
How to Avoid It
Use stronger predator-resistant materials, such as appropriately sized hardware cloth, where predators could access your birds.
Inspect:
- Windows
- Vents
- Doors
- Run walls
- Roofs
- Corners
- Ground-level gaps
Remember that predators can dig, climb, squeeze, pull, and occasionally open surprisingly complicated latches.
Never underestimate a motivated raccoon.
5. Forgetting About Ventilation
New chicken keepers sometimes worry so much about keeping their birds warm that they accidentally seal the coop too tightly.
Chickens produce moisture through breathing and manure.
Without adequate ventilation, humidity and ammonia can build up inside the coop.
How to Avoid It
Provide good ventilation without creating strong drafts directly across sleeping birds.
Fresh air is important even during winter.
Your coop should be dry and well ventilated rather than airtight.
6. Trying to Heat the Entire Coop in Winter
Chickens generally tolerate cold temperatures better than many beginners expect, particularly cold-hardy breeds that are healthy and acclimated to the climate.
Heating a coop improperly can also introduce a serious fire risk.
How to Avoid It
Instead of focusing on making the coop warm like your house, focus on:
- Keeping it dry
- Providing good ventilation
- Preventing drafts at roost level
- Providing appropriate roosts
- Keeping water available
- Monitoring birds for signs of cold stress or frostbite
Some birds, climates, and situations may require additional management, so always consider your individual flock rather than following a single rule for every chicken.
7. Giving Too Many Treats
Your chickens hear a treat container shake.
Suddenly you’re the most popular person on Earth.
It’s tempting to spoil them constantly.
Unfortunately, chickens don’t understand nutritional balance.
They understand:
SNACK.
How to Avoid It
A properly formulated complete poultry feed should make up the majority of their diet.
Treats should be just that—treats.
Offer them in moderation rather than replacing balanced feed with large quantities of scraps, scratch grains, or other extras.
8. Feeding the Wrong Feed for Their Age
Chicks, growing birds, laying hens, and other poultry groups can have different nutritional requirements.
Using inappropriate feed can result in nutritional imbalances.
How to Avoid It
Choose feed formulated for your birds’ life stage and follow the manufacturer’s feeding directions.
Depending on age and purpose, you’ll commonly encounter feeds labelled:
- Chick starter
- Grower
- All-flock
- Layer
If you’re unsure which feed is appropriate for your flock, ask a knowledgeable poultry feed supplier or veterinarian.
9. Confusing Grit With Oyster Shell
They’re both small containers of crunchy-looking stuff.
They’re also completely different.
Grit
Grit helps chickens grind food inside their gizzard.
Oyster Shell
Oyster shell is commonly provided as a supplemental source of calcium for laying hens.
How to Avoid It
Think of it this way:
Grit = digestion
Oyster shell = calcium
They serve different purposes and aren’t interchangeable.
10. Not Providing Enough Feeders and Waterers
In a perfectly peaceful chicken society, everyone would politely take turns.
You don’t have a perfectly peaceful chicken society.
You have a pecking order.
Dominant birds can sometimes prevent lower-ranking chickens from accessing food and water.
How to Avoid It
Provide enough feeder and waterer space for your flock.
For larger flocks or groups experiencing bullying, consider multiple feeding and watering stations placed apart from one another.
Watch your birds during feeding time to make sure everyone gets access.
11. Introducing New Chickens Too Quickly
You bring home two beautiful new hens and immediately put them into the coop.
Everyone becomes best friends.
Except…
Probably not.
Chickens have an established social hierarchy, and introducing unfamiliar birds can cause conflict.
New birds can also potentially introduce illness or parasites into your existing flock.
How to Avoid It
Have a quarantine and introduction plan before adding new chickens.
Once you’re satisfied the new birds are healthy, gradual introductions—where birds can initially see one another without full physical access—can help reduce conflict.
Expect some pecking-order behaviour during introductions, but intervene if a bird is being injured or relentlessly attacked.
12. Ignoring Biosecurity
This isn’t the glamorous side of chicken keeping, but it’s extremely important.
Disease can potentially enter your property through:
- New birds
- Shared equipment
- Visitors
- Poultry shows or swaps
- Contaminated footwear
- Wild birds
- Rodents
How to Avoid It
Simple biosecurity practices can make a big difference.
Consider:
- Quarantining new birds
- Cleaning equipment
- Limiting unnecessary visitors inside poultry areas
- Avoiding sharing equipment between flocks
- Cleaning or changing footwear after visiting other poultry properties
- Controlling rodents
- Keeping feed protected from wild animals
Prevention is much easier than dealing with an outbreak.
13. Not Watching Your Chickens Every Day
You don’t need to perform a veterinary examination on every chicken every morning.
But you should look at them.
Chickens may hide signs of illness until they’re quite unwell.
Knowing what’s normal for your flock makes it easier to recognize when something changes.
How to Avoid It
While feeding or collecting eggs, take a moment to observe your birds.
Look for:
- Normal appetite
- Normal activity
- Clear eyes
- Normal breathing
- Healthy movement
- Normal droppings
- Clean vent areas
- Changes in comb colour
- Unusual isolation from the flock
If one chicken suddenly isn’t behaving like herself, investigate.
14. Assuming Every Weird Chicken Behaviour Means Illness
This is practically a rite of passage.
You look outside.
Your chicken is lying motionless in the dirt with one wing stretched out.
You panic.
You run outside.
She jumps up, shakes dirt all over you, and walks away.
Congratulations.
You have discovered dust bathing or sunbathing.
How to Avoid It
Learn normal chicken behaviours, including:
- Dust bathing
- Sunbathing
- Molting
- Broodiness
- Preening
- Scratching
- Pecking-order interactions
- Wing stretching
The better you understand normal behaviour, the easier it becomes to recognize abnormal behaviour.
15. Not Preparing for Predators Before an Attack Happens
Many people don’t realize what predators live nearby until something discovers their chickens.
Even suburban and urban areas can have predators.
Depending on where you live, threats may include:
- Raccoons
- Foxes
- Coyotes
- Weasels
- Hawks
- Owls
- Domestic dogs
How to Avoid It
Build your predator protection before you have a problem.
Walk around your coop and look at it from a predator’s perspective.
Can something:
- Dig underneath?
- Reach through?
- Climb over?
- Pull something open?
- Enter through a vent?
- Squeeze through a gap?
Fix weaknesses immediately.
16. Not Having a Plan for Roosters
You bought six chicks.
You were told they were probably pullets.
One morning:
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOO!
Surprise.
Even sexed chicks aren’t always guaranteed to be female, and chicks purchased straight-run can produce plenty of roosters.
Hatching eggs brings an even greater possibility—you should generally be prepared for approximately half of the chicks to be male, although individual hatches can vary significantly.
How to Avoid It
Before buying or hatching chicks, ask yourself:
What will I do if I get roosters?
Check local regulations and have a realistic plan.
Never hatch eggs without considering what you’ll do with unwanted males.
17. Expecting Eggs Immediately
You bring home chicks in spring.
Two weeks later:
No eggs.
Rude.
Most chickens don’t begin laying until they’re several months old, and exact timing varies by breed, genetics, nutrition, season, and individual development.
How to Avoid It
Be patient.
Pullets will lay when their bodies are ready.
Once laying begins, remember that production can also fluctuate because of:
- Daylight
- Molting
- Age
- Stress
- Nutrition
- Broodiness
- Weather
- Health
Chickens aren’t egg-producing machines.
18. Not Having a Chicken First Aid Kit
Chicken emergencies have an incredible ability to happen:
At 9:47 p.m.
On a Sunday.
When everything is closed.
How to Avoid It
Keep basic supplies together, such as:
- Disposable gloves
- Sterile saline
- Gauze
- Non-stick wound pads
- Bandage wrap
- Tweezers
- Small scissors
- Clean towels
- Poultry-safe wound care supplies
It’s also worth finding out ahead of time whether any veterinarians in your area treat poultry.
19. Buying Too Many Chickens at Once
This one’s easy to do.
You wanted four chickens.
But there were six breeds.
And there was a discount if you bought ten.
And then you saw the Silkies.
Suddenly you own 18 chickens.
How to Avoid It
Start with a manageable flock.
Learn your routine.
Figure out how much time, feed, bedding, cleaning, and space your chickens actually require.
You can always expand later.
And let’s be realistic.
You probably will.
20. Thinking You Need to Be Perfect
This may be the biggest beginner mistake of all.
You can research endlessly and still encounter situations you weren’t prepared for.
Every flock teaches you something.
Every property is different.
Every chicken has her own personality.
And sometimes chickens make absolutely baffling decisions despite everything you’ve done correctly.
How to Avoid It
Keep learning.
Ask questions.
Observe your flock.
Correct mistakes when you recognize them.
And don’t assume that someone who’s been raising chickens for 20 years has never made one.
Experienced chicken keepers aren’t people who never made mistakes.
They’re people who made mistakes, learned from them, and kept going.
Give Yourself Time to Learn
Raising chickens isn’t particularly complicated once you establish a routine, but there’s a surprising amount to learn when you’re starting out.
Focus on the basics:
Good nutrition.
Fresh water.
Adequate space.
A clean, dry environment.
Predator protection.
Biosecurity.
Daily observation.
Get those foundations right and you’ll already be giving your flock a great start.
Most importantly, enjoy them.
You’ll learn their individual voices, favourite treats, sleeping arrangements, friendships, rivalries, and bizarre little habits.
And eventually, another beginner will ask you a chicken question.
You’ll answer without even thinking about it.
Then you’ll realize:
Oh no.
I’m a chicken person now.
Welcome to the flock. 🐔❤️
