Can you indulge a newbie?

[gritsar]

Get up and try to make it to the kitchen without KiKi tripping me on her mad dash to the food dish.
Grab a cup of coffee and try to get a few sips in between feeding the cats and loving on the dog. He at least has the decency to wait while I finish a cup of coffee before making demands.
Let the dog outside for a potty break on my way to the coop.
Spread some BOSS or scratch on the ground near the coop. Open the pop door before the hens bust it down from the inside.
Wait for everyone to exit before open the people door. Go in and check on things, gather any eggs, check food and water.
Check on things a few more times during the day. Rinse and refill the inside waterer. Gather eggs after I hear the egg songs.
Go out at dusk, do a head count, check feed and water, gather any late eggs.
Make sure Lil'Bit has found a place on the roost. Convince Chloe that it's a good idea to sleep inside the coop, rather than outside.
Bid them all a good night and lock both the pop and human doors.
If the weather is warm and the shutters on the coop have been open, I will close them if it's suppose to get below 40 degrees that night. Otherwise the shutters stay open.

 

[Sjisty]

My day starts at 5:00 a.m. Alarm goes off, roosters crow. Sometimes they don't crow that early, and then I'm worried until I hear them. They usually start at 4:30.

I open coops/runs at daylight, right now around 7-ish. I watch them come barrelling out. Rocky waits for every female to come out so he can "spread his seed." My junior roos go in the opposite direction.

First break of the day is around 9:00. I check for eggs, explain to the chickies why I don't have treats for them yet, go back to work (I work at home).

Noon - I'm off work for a while. It's treat time for the girls/guys. They get whatever I have - oatmeal in cold weather, watermelon in hot, sometimes bread, sometimes rice - you know - they eat anything. It's time for chicken TV. My favorites jump in my lap for a little extra loving. Turkey Lurkey struts around my chair. Stinky the duck nibbles my shoes. It's my favorite time of the day! Oh, and egg collection time again.

Hubby comes home around 3:30 p.m. It's chicken bonding time! We sit outside for a while with the chickies and unwind from the day, at least he does - I have to go back to work at 6:00!

Bedtime for chickens is 5:30. Everybody gets rounded up and put in the coop. I make sure everyone has food and water. I collect the rest of the day's eggs and thank all my girls. The guys get held and petted for a minute or two to keep them friendly. They don't especially like it but they put up with me.

10:30 p.m. - Time to go to bed so I can start over again!

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Honestly, for me the daily routine regarding the chickens is that I get up, clean out their water, give them some food and perhaps scraps, and that's it as far as necessary care goes. They're easy keepers! That said, I do like to watch them, hold them, let them out to free range for a few hours, and those sorts of things. At night, I do a headcount to make sure everyone is accounted for and put away anyone who tries to sleep outside the chicken house.

Once a week or so, I clean out the chicken house, which takes maybe an hour. Then I also have some chickens in my garage (seramas, their chicks, and a cockerel) and I feed them and replace their water at least once a day, check on them at least three times a day, and clean out their cages when needed.

 

[NellaBean]

I let them out of their coop in the morning (whenever I get up, after daylight), make sure there is food in their feeder and water in the water bowl, throw some scratch out and go inside

At night, I go out, count heads in the coop to make sure everybody is inside, collect eggs and lock up.

That is it. As I tend to always be in a rush in the morning, I try to fill the feeders and waterers at night, so really all I have to do in the morning is open the coop door and throw some scratch. Every now and then I will scrape the poop boards (usually only on weekends), and throw some new shavings down or clean out the nest boxes. This is not very often for me...maybe every couple weeks or so.

 

[BedHead]

Thanks so much for all the replies!! It looks like it will pretty much be up to me how much time it takes up. Which is really good to know - I honestly had no idea before reading all your replies