Daily Routine

[MrsDH]

You put scratch in their nesting boxes?

 

[kuulgrl]

Sunrise- take water bowl, water, and ferment out. Open the pop door and set up water and food. Check for eggs. Shovel snow

1pm- take a small bowl of ferment for lunch. Clean out the frozen poop. Check for eggs. Hang out with them for 5-10 mins. As needed- add or change bedding. Shovel snow

4pm-ish - take another small bowl of ferment out or some table scraps. Last check for eggs. Shovel snow

Dusk- Count heads, lock up pop door. Take all food bowls and water bowl back in house to clean.

At some point each day me and the kids check on the mealworms. At ages 2 and 4, they love the mealworms. Sometime this week my 4 yr old want me to take some worms, pupa, and beetles to school. ;-) Some worms go to the chickens, one a day gets fed to a cat, the kids sort the pupa out, and let worms and beetles crawl on their hands. LOL I add bedding and food.

 

[MrsDH]

You don't leave food and water in their coop all night?

 

[SummerTimeFarm]

Wake up is 4:15 am bed is 6:30 pm

 

[hollymh]

7-730am pop the coop door and let the girls out into a run, their run is 20ftx8ft, after it warms up and the sun is out, usually after 11-12 I collect eggs and leave the run door open and they free range until 630-7, I throw scratch grains, fill feed buckets, toss treats or lefovers and close up for the night. I was lax on my schedule ONE time and I lost three pullets to some hungry opossums. Never again.

 

[newturkeygirl]

Wake up for my hen is around 4:30 and bed time for her is 5:30 or 6. She wakes herself up and puts herself to bed. She free ranges the backyard all day which has a privacy fence so she feels safe day and night. But she lets me know if there is something in the backyard which shouldn't be there. I usually provide fresh water at 8 am and check her food. She doesn't eat much feed because she loves grass and bugs. I then check the coop for egg but she usually lays around 2:30 pm everyday. I work from home so I get to check on her often. I get the egg if she left one around 4 and she goes to bed later on her own. She has a nesting spot and a sleeping spot in her coop.

 

[Bocrates]

Wow! I feel like a lazy chicken owner. Don't tell my girls.

Morning - We have an automatic door and heated water, so I usually don't make my way out there until mid morning. Gather eggs and take a glance to make sure all the girls are well. If it snowed more than a few inches, then I will shovel out the walkway and an area for them to roam for the day. Water and food usually only need refilling every 4 to 6 days. I'll dispense some leftovers if we have them. We only turn the DL once a week.

Late afternoon - Gather eggs again, dispense additional treats if it's gonna be a particularly cold night.

I probably average less than 8 minutes a day total time in the winter. In the summer I spend a lot more time with them, but it is way too cold to be messing around anymore than necessary in the winter.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

Morning - Wake up, collect the eggs, check water (refill if needed), and check on the how the girls are doing.


Afternoon - Collect eggs, check the birds, check feed (refill if needed), serve treats.


Evening - Kick naughty hens out of the nesting boxes.

 

[Katt66]

Summer routine was different than winter. For the summer I was out there constantly but didn't need to be. 1 Gallon hanging waterer and 1 Gallon hanging feeder for 9 hens and 1 rooster enclosed, well secured run and a comfy cozy coop didn't need much attention other than gathering eggs once a day.

For the winter I've finally found a routine that seems to work. Around sun up, whatever time it decides to show itself I go out with the bucket of fermented feed and fill 2 bowls for them. Take their and the Quail's frozen waters into the house to thaw and re fill. Return both to the coops and make sure the Quail's dry feeder is topped off.

I leave the coop door open all year long so they can come and go as they please between the coop and enclosed run. during the day a few times I'll go back out, make sure their water hasn't iced over and check for eggs. (With the ridiculous cold we've had lately ice removal and egg retrieval were both major parts of my day. Waters ice over in an hour and eggs freeze solid and burst just as fast when it's nine below D

In the evening if I'm not working I'll go out just after dark one final time, do a quick headcount and make sure everybody's on their roosts and check for eggs one final time. If I'm working and it's not too cold I'll do this when I get home at 11:30. If it's really cold I'll duck into the back room and text the kids to remind them to go out and do the headcount, check for eggs and tuck the girls in right after dark.

 

[KayTee]

You don't leave food and water in their coop all night?

Chickens don't eat overnight, so it's not necessary to leave food and water for them. However, they wake up very bright and early, (mine are awake around 6.30 am at the moment), so if the coop door isn't open right away, they need access to something for their breakfast!
When I had a tiny, 'rabbit hutch' sized coop I didn't have space to leave anything inside, so I was always up at the crack of dawn to open the door and let them into the run where the food and water were. Now that I have a 'chicken palace' with loads of room inside, I leave food and water available all the time. They are always up eating and drinking well before the door opens. (I recently got a ChickenGuard automatic opener - best investment I made!)

My routine - out first thing in the morning for a 5 minute clean up. I use deep litter in the main coop area, but they still sleep in the tiny 'rabbit hutch' coop which is inside the 'chicken palace', so I have to clean that out daily. Check for eggs/give treats/dig up worms throughout the day if I'm not at work (I work part time), and throw a couple of handfuls of scratch out in their scratching areas an hour or so before they go to bed. Final task - check that the door has closed just after dusk, (and at the moment give Blackie's her 5 minute bumblefoot soak - she loves it!).