Chicken math, meet chicken time

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Lol, I don't have chickens, but I do have "cat time". We have 7 cats, 2 upstairs (my husband mostly cares for those) and 5 downstairs as well as a small dog (I care for those) and when I go downstairs to take care of the animals sometimes I'm down there for quite some time.

There are 5 litterboxes and the dog isn't housebroken so he lives in a pen in the basement (to contain his mess) that also needs to be maintained so it can take a while. I've got a pretty good system with the litter boxes now so they don't take forever to clean when I clean them (I don't do all of them every day, I clean as needed, 2 of the boxes get cleaned every day, the other 3 are closer to once a week when they need to be cleaned). The dog cage.. It's gross, it gets cleaned about once a week right now because it's an ordeal to clean, he's on pine pellets and they have to either all be thrown out or sifted.... I'm getting ready to change his cage up some and see if that helps any.

Like you, I have critters that have to have attention while I'm trying to clean, most of the time I'm cleaning a litterbox with 1 hand and scratching a cat with the other, the cats rotate in as to who I'm scratching when and the dog gets into the mix as well...
 
Kusanar said:
Lol, I don't have chickens, but I do have "cat time". We have 7 cats, 2 upstairs (my husband mostly cares for those) and 5 downstairs as well as a small dog (I care for those) and when I go downstairs to take care of the animals sometimes I'm down there for quite some time.

There are 5 litterboxes and the dog isn't housebroken so he lives in a pen in the basement (to contain his mess) that also needs to be maintained so it can take a while. I've got a pretty good system with the litter boxes now so they don't take forever to clean when I clean them (I don't do all of them every day, I clean as needed, 2 of the boxes get cleaned every day, the other 3 are closer to once a week when they need to be cleaned). The dog cage.. It's gross, it gets cleaned about once a week right now because it's an ordeal to clean, he's on pine pellets and they have to either all be thrown out or sifted.... I'm getting ready to change his cage up some and see if that helps any.

Like you, I have critters that have to have attention while I'm trying to clean, most of the time I'm cleaning a litterbox with 1 hand and scratching a cat with the other, the cats rotate in as to who I'm scratching when and the dog gets into the mix as well...
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Oh wow, that sounds like a lot of work! But at least you have enthusiastic companions to “help” while you clean. I’m glad your dog can co-exist with your downstairs cats. We just got a second rescue dog and he will go outside if I’m disciplined enough to take him out super early, but he hasn’t figured out how to ask during the day. Just starts circling and sniffing and I try to get him out in time. Our other dog trained really fast, but she’s also easier being female, she doesn’t need to pee in little bits over a period of time, just gets it done!
Both dogs have an incredible prey drive, so I won’t be able to let them into the yard off leash once our chicks move to the coop. They will chase the flock from the outside of the run and stress them.
 
Angelbirdy said:
Oh wow, that sounds like a lot of work! But at least you have enthusiastic companions to “help” while you clean. I’m glad your dog can co-exist with your downstairs cats. We just got a second rescue dog and he will go outside if I’m disciplined enough to take him out super early, but he hasn’t figured out how to ask during the day. Just starts circling and sniffing and I try to get him out in time. Our other dog trained really fast, but she’s also easier being female, she doesn’t need to pee in little bits over a period of time, just gets it done!
Both dogs have an incredible prey drive, so I won’t be able to let them into the yard off leash once our chicks move to the coop. They will chase the flock from the outside of the run and stress them.
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Well, I have cats ranging in weights from about 11 lbs to 15ish lbs downstairs and the dog is 13 lbs, so he is smart enough not to harass the cats since they are bigger than he is and there are 5 of them!

Sadly, I doubt he will ever be housetrained. He was a rescue and the people that had him before me (I got him straight from them not from a shelter so I do have history on him as he belonged to a family member and we knew him before I got him) tried to crate train him but they did it all wrong, they would leave him in the crate until he couldn't hold it anymore and made a mess that he then had to lay in (it was a cat carrier....) so he's lost that instinctive want to not make messes in his bed that dogs are born with. He will actually poop on his bed in his cage and then lay on it... So, he has a 4x4' pen in the basement with a bed, food and water and pine pellets in the floor when we aren't around watching him, when we are downstairs he is loose to run around and play with the cats. The cats also go in his cage to visit some as they can climb the cage and jump in and out (it's 3' tall).
 
I will tell my husband that I'm going to check on feed and water "real quick" then an hour or so later he comes to find me sitting on a bucket in the coop with 3 or 4 chickens in my lap just a talkin to them...as we start back towards the house I remember that I haven't fed or watered yet...I got some chatty Cathy chicks!
 
My husband loves the animals almost as much as I do though he doesnt admit it often. Lol.
 

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Angelbirdy said:
Yes, it’s definitely a thing. I go up to the brooder to check water and temps, and I can’t seem to get away before an hour goes by. So far have missed an appointment with a friend, dinner prep in a timely fashion, putting wet laundry in the dryer, and most of my housework :)
Best days of the year so far! 😊
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Its crazy right when my quail eggs hatched I was at the brooder for 2hrs one day mind you there is 147 of them and I had to check each one
 

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