Daily Chicken Schedule

[AnimalGeek23]

Wow, not mine... as soon as they see me outside, they start pacing back and forth at the gate... squawking "let me out!" (mind you, their fenced area is 40'x75'). I let them out tonight and everybody went running for the woods! I was not happy! We are surrounded by woods but have a huge yard & pasture, couple acres, that they generally stay in but not today.... then I read on a local poultry page about how some people are having problems with coyotes right now. They are pretty good about coming when I call them but not the first little while after they get out. The older girls are teaching the kids bad things. LOL

 

[AnimalGeek23]

For chicks you should count on some extra time spent, because they're messier, require more checking on, and if you want them to be more human friendly you'll want to spend more time handling them.

 

[Cayuga momma]

I let mine out at sunrise. They all pile out the door. Their run door is usually open so some will eat their food others will run around to the front of my house.
I drop my son off at the bus stop and when I pull into the driveway, they are all there (even my ducks) screeching and squawking for tomatoes. Even in bad weather.
Summertime I pretty much spend all day with them.
So far with the cold weather I only hang with them for about 20 min a day. Sometimes I will just hangout in their coop, because it's warmer.
About an hour before dark they are all nestled up on their roosts. Except summer I have to chase my ducks out of the pool and into the coop.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I only have 4, and I, too, have school (I'm a teacher). I let them out when I wake up. I take their feeder in with me at night, so I grab that and a pitcher of water and head out. I hang the feeder and refill the waterer. I also take a couple of minutes to scoop the poop board. There is a waterer in their coop, so if I'm a lil late, they at least have water. I let them out to free range when I get home. Then I spend time with them! <3 And I refresh the bedding and whatnot with fresh material about once a week. Sprinkle some pdz. It's all good.

I kept my brooder in my house. They definitely required more time with all the cleaning and the cuddling. But it was sooo worth it!!! I have 4 sweet girls!!!

They are so much better behaved than my students - LOL! They put themselves to bed once the sun sets. Then I go out and close the coop, a couple of the windows, and the run. Easy peasy. Care of my cats and dog is much, much more time intensive.

In my opinion, chickens can take a lot of time and money to set up, but they are pretty darn easy once you have the coop and run established. They would probably do fine without any human intervention if I just let them free range 24/7.