chicken burn out... a question

[Ol Grey Mare]

Another note on simplification... if you are buying a commercial feed it is formulated (by scientists that have done loads of research) to give your chickens everything they need in their diet, as is, dry, with nothing added. Your chickens don't NEED the extras and you don't NEED to spend time (or money) on the extras. I rarely buy any special treats for my girls, but they do get table scraps and garden scraps from time to time, and it feels special to me to bring them these goodies because they aren't an every day thing and I take time to sit with them while they run around stealing spaghetti from each other or the ducks clamor over each other to grab lettuce from me or dive in their pool for peas or the chickens excitedly dig through the garden weeds or excitedly fight over the one earthworm I found. These moments become more special and more enjoyable because the are different and separate from the every day routine, which is just top off the feed and swap the frozen water for fresh.

X2! I dont cook or prep for the birds specifically.....they get scraps, leftovers, trimmings, etc. The only thing I do cfor" them is I do raise mealworms, but that's really not much work

 

[Jeni1953]

I am retired aged 69 years old. I have been for about 12 years and have had chickens for about 10 of those years. I keep about 10 chickens on average for about 3 years per flock and then re-home them and start over with chicks for another three years. I am totally devoted to my chickens. They are housed in a very large coop and enclosed run which I built myself. I wake up at sunrise to let them out, and go out at sundown to close their coop for the night. I mix organic layer pellets with mash and water the night before to make their diet more interesting. I mix up vegetables from the grocery store in a blender to make it more digestible and mix in dried grubs every day. I clean the coop and run about 2 or 3 times a day with dog poop scoop and handle and keep their environment as clean as possible. I have a poop tray under their roost that I clean daily. I deal with all the typical chicken problems that everyone else has from time to time.

I love the organic fresh eggs, but man it is a lot of work and after about a decade of this in every kind of weather the Pacific North West can dish up, I am finding myself less and less motivated to get up and go through the routine.

So my question is, what do you old timers do to stay motivated after years of tending your backyard chickens? Am I doing too much? I am not sure I can do the deep liter method the way my coop is set up. It has a raised wood floor and is covered. This is meant for hobbyist chicken keepers not people who raise chickens for profit or sale. I have no help and don't think I can find anyone who will do what I do every day. How often should I be cleaning up after them? The biggest challenge is keep up with their poop every day. they poop A LOT! I can't imagine not picking it up every day. it would get pretty disgusting and lead to a much larger job when it came time to clean it. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks.

Sorry to laugh! I thought you were talking about chicken burn out. I'm 65. My critters keep me young. 6 chickens, two horses, two dogs, two cats.

 

[BReeder!]

I am retired aged 69 years old. I have been for about 12 years and have had chickens for about 10 of those years. I keep about 10 chickens on average for about 3 years per flock and then re-home them and start over with chicks for another three years. I am totally devoted to my chickens. They are housed in a very large coop and enclosed run which I built myself. I wake up at sunrise to let them out, and go out at sundown to close their coop for the night. I mix organic layer pellets with mash and water the night before to make their diet more interesting. I mix up vegetables from the grocery store in a blender to make it more digestible and mix in dried grubs every day. I clean the coop and run about 2 or 3 times a day with dog poop scoop and handle and keep their environment as clean as possible. I have a poop tray under their roost that I clean daily. I deal with all the typical chicken problems that everyone else has from time to time.

I love the organic fresh eggs, but man it is a lot of work and after about a decade of this in every kind of weather the Pacific North West can dish up, I am finding myself less and less motivated to get up and go through the routine.

So my question is, what do you old timers do to stay motivated after years of tending your backyard chickens? Am I doing too much? I am not sure I can do the deep liter method the way my coop is set up. It has a raised wood floor and is covered. This is meant for hobbyist chicken keepers not people who raise chickens for profit or sale. I have no help and don't think I can find anyone who will do what I do every day. How often should I be cleaning up after them? The biggest challenge is keep up with their poop every day. they poop A LOT! I can't imagine not picking it up every day. it would get pretty disgusting and lead to a much larger job when it came time to clean it. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks.

I think you are doing too much. I have 7 hens. My wife or I only have to go out three times a day to the coop (only twice in warmer weather). The hardest work is in the morning to feed and top off water, clean the poop board (just installed the poop board and it's a mess saver for sure) and open the chicken door. Around 1PM we go collect eggs. My girls lay between 10AM and 1PM it seems. This 1PM trip to the coop can be skipped in better weather because the eggs are fine until we go out in the evening. Then in the evening to close the chicken door and collect an empty feed bowl if we gave them fermented feed or scraps (which is less common in the winter right now).

Side note: When we do ferment feed, we use a 4 container rotation system for a 3 day ferment. It makes things easier on us and keeps things clean for the hens. Eventually I'll write on article on this topic, but it's a Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 container and then the 4th container is in the sink. Day 3 goes to the birds (fermented for 3 days) and then goes to the sink. A clean container from the sink (in the drying rack after being washed the night before with dishes) gets filled with feed, scratch and water and goes to the Day 1 place. Day 1 moves to Day 2 and Day 2 moves to Day 3 to be fed tomorrow to the birds.

That's it for daily chores.
Not multiple cleanings every day. That's too much work.

Coop floor was leaf litter and straw before and is currently pine shavings. Throw some more bedding down once in a while (weekly maybe) and stir the bedding. I only want to clean the bedding completely twice a year - Spring and Fall - to prep for winter and clean up from winter.

The run takes care of itself mostly. I piled leaves in the run in the Fall. I'll rake out the leaf mulch in the Spring and put it in the garden if it's broke down enough. Otherwise I'll pile it in a compost heap for a few more weeks before it goes to the garden. That's one hard day in the Fall and 1 or 2 hard days in the Spring. It goes towards our gardening efforts too so not really seen as chicken maintenance.

The only other hard work is the occasional trip to the feed store to get feed, bedding and anything else we need and then hauling the new supplies to the coop. I have a 4 wheel cart I load up and wheel into the yard to the coop.
I feel like it's pretty low key all in all. It does require us to be there, and you could be more involved for sure. But if you are getting overwhelmed, you absolutely can do a little less than you are.

 

[BReeder!]

Another note on simplification... if you are buying a commercial feed it is formulated (by scientists that have done loads of research) to give your chickens everything they need in their diet, as is, dry, with nothing added. Your chickens don't NEED the extras and you don't NEED to spend time (or money) on the extras. I rarely buy any special treats for my girls, but they do get table scraps and garden scraps from time to time, and it feels special to me to bring them these goodies because they aren't an every day thing and I take time to sit with them while they run around stealing spaghetti from each other or the ducks clamor over each other to grab lettuce from me or dive in their pool for peas or the chickens excitedly dig through the garden weeds or excitedly fight over the one earthworm I found. These moments become more special and more enjoyable because the are different and separate from the every day routine, which is just top off the feed and swap the frozen water for fresh.

Careful here. It is also formulated to maintain profitability of the company making it. I am a fan of adding scratch, scraps, and fermenting or soaking feed. These things can be done in simple was that do not take much effort if you have a system/process in place to make it efficient.

 

[Scotty from BI]

Thank everyone for contributing. Most of what I do has evolved first from advice from my neighbor who had a small flock and got me started, then for random internet googling and reading on sites like this. finally and most importantly, from what my chickens have taught me. They are my motivation for getting up every morning and getting up through out the day. So they give me as much as I give them, and of course there's those greats eggs. Regarding the cleaning routine, since they are in an enclosed run all day everyday, I can't imagine them walking in and pecking at dirt that is made of mostly poop, especially that really nasty cecal poop. "yuck". Especially since I throw snacks down on the ground for them to peck away at every day. I love the snacking and egg collecting, the only thing I really am getting tired of is picking up poop and now feathers every day, especially in rainy weather. I would love to just throw leaves and grass down and let them scratch away at it, but while they are scratching, they are also pecking and eating. I noticed that my chickens are discriminating enough to avoid eating the poop they lay down, even when there are bits of food in it. I don't condemn anyone for their animal husbandry especially since I am still learning as I go. I wish there was an easy fix.

Another problem, I think, is leaving large quantities of food out for long periods of days or weeks only adding to the top of it or even mixing it in is mold. Especially in the damp winter days of the PNW. Also, gnats and other bugs the chickens don't eats or mice and rats. Water is easy with nipple drinkers. The reason I wet down their food every day is so that I can rotate the dry food that I also leave out in a trough feeder. After the food in the trough feeder is about a week or two old, I rotate it to the food source of the wet food. They seem to prefer the wet food so I put out less than they can eat and they then go to the dry food. This way there is no waste or sickness from bad or old food.

I considered culling out a few but it is hard to decide which to let go. Maybe, I will let one or two go and see if it makes a difference. I could do with less eggs but I was hoping that I could keep these guys longer than the usual 2 or 3 years. The theory being as they get older they would give me enough in their diminished production to meet my needs even if there is too much in the beginning.

Anyway, just some random ramblings from an old guy with chickens.

 

[BReeder!]

Thank everyone for contributing. Most of what I do has evolved first from advice from my neighbor who had a small flock and got me started, then for random internet googling and reading on sites like this. finally and most importantly, from what my chickens have taught me. They are my motivation for getting up every morning and getting up through out the day. So they give me as much as I give them, and of course there's those greats eggs. Regarding the cleaning routine, since they are in an enclosed run all day everyday, I can't imagine them walking in and pecking at dirt that is made of mostly poop, especially that really nasty cecal poop. "yuck". Especially since I throw snacks down on the ground for them to peck away at every day. I love the snacking and egg collecting, the only thing I really am getting tired of is picking up poop and now feathers every day, especially in rainy weather. I would love to just throw leaves and grass down and let them scratch away at it, but while they are scratching, they are also pecking and eating. I noticed that my chickens are discriminating enough to avoid eating the poop they lay down, even when there are bits of food in it. I don't condemn anyone for their animal husbandry especially since I am still learning as I go. I wish there was an easy fix.

Another problem, I think, is leaving large quantities of food out for long periods of days or weeks only adding to the top of it or even mixing it in is mold. Especially in the damp winter days of the PNW. Also, gnats and other bugs the chickens don't eats or mice and rats. Water is easy with nipple drinkers. The reason I wet down their food every day is so that I can rotate the dry food that I also leave out in a trough feeder. After the food in the trough feeder is about a week or two old, I rotate it to the food source of the wet food. They seem to prefer the wet food so I put out less than they can eat and they then go to the dry food. This way there is no waste or sickness from bad or old food.

I considered culling out a few but it is hard to decide which to let go. Maybe, I will let one or two go and see if it makes a difference. I could do with less eggs but I was hoping that I could keep these guys longer than the usual 2 or 3 years. The theory being as they get older they would give me enough in their diminished production to meet my needs even if there is too much in the beginning.

Anyway, just some random ramblings from an old guy with chickens.

Can you enlarge the run? More space would allow more time between cleaning because poop is spread out across a larger area, meaning more open ground for chickens to forage on. My run for 7 hens is currently my entire back yard. In Spring and Summer when the garden is going and I care about the grass, it is often just the enclosed run which will now be an L shape 15' along one side and 17' on another 5' wide throughout (135 sq ft in total run space for 7 hens)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank everyone for contributing. Most of what I do has evolved first from advice from my neighbor who had a small flock and got me started, then for random internet googling and reading on sites like this. finally and most importantly, from what my chickens have taught me. They are my motivation for getting up every morning and getting up through out the day. So they give me as much as I give them, and of course there's those greats eggs. Regarding the cleaning routine, since they are in an enclosed run all day everyday, I can't imagine them walking in and pecking at dirt that is made of mostly poop, especially that really nasty cecal poop. "yuck". Especially since I throw snacks down on the ground for them to peck away at every day. I love the snacking and egg collecting, the only thing I really am getting tired of is picking up poop and now feathers every day, especially in rainy weather. I would love to just throw leaves and grass down and let them scratch away at it, but while they are scratching, they are also pecking and eating. I noticed that my chickens are discriminating enough to avoid eating the poop they lay down, even when there are bits of food in it. I don't condemn anyone for their animal husbandry especially since I am still learning as I go. I wish there was an easy fix.

Another problem, I think, is leaving large quantities of food out for long periods of days or weeks only adding to the top of it or even mixing it in is mold. Especially in the damp winter days of the PNW. Also, gnats and other bugs the chickens don't eats or mice and rats. Water is easy with nipple drinkers. The reason I wet down their food every day is so that I can rotate the dry food that I also leave out in a trough feeder. After the food in the trough feeder is about a week or two old, I rotate it to the food source of the wet food. They seem to prefer the wet food so I put out less than they can eat and they then go to the dry food. This way there is no waste or sickness from bad or old food.

I considered culling out a few but it is hard to decide which to let go. Maybe, I will let one or two go and see if it makes a difference. I could do with less eggs but I was hoping that I could keep these guys longer than the usual 2 or 3 years. The theory being as they get older they would give me enough in their diminished production to meet my needs even if there is too much in the beginning.

Anyway, just some random ramblings from an old guy with chickens.

Sounds like you do things in a way that works for you. I don't live in a wet climate so I can't comment on the need for cleaning or how to keep your run fresh. We freeze hard here in winter so we let the poop build up a bit during cold months and clean more when it's warmer.

Most of chicken keeping is trial and error and finding what works best for you. My way isn't necessarily best for others and vice versa.

There are breeds that will lay longer in there lives at a decreased rate. My buff Orpingtons stay fairly productive up to 5-6 years. So maybe switching breeds.

There's so many ways to do it all, and finding something that simplifies it all is always great.

 

[Scotty from BI]

 

[Scotty from BI]

 

[Scotty from BI]