Daily Chicken Schedule

[MillersFarm]

Get up around 5am, Feed and water the birds, cows, pigs, horses and goats, Wash up and go to work, Come back home at around 12pm to check on everyone and water them again. Go back to work up until 4-6pm. And when i'm not at work i'm at collage. Luckily my animals put themselves away at dark, So I only have to lock up everyone. Then I spend the rest of the evening eating and studying, go to bed and repeat.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have a question for y’all:
I go to school at 8:20 AM. Waking up at 7:30 AM... how much minutes should I wake up earlier when I get my chooks?

I really only need 15 minutes or less for the chickens/ducks. I could probably make it faster/easier if I wanted. I unlock houses, fill food and water. I can't carry all the food and water at once so I have to walk back and forth to the house/spigot 2-3 trips. (In summer I keep a hose out and it's easier) That's it. The only reason it takes longer than feeding the dog or the cat is because the coop is further from the human house.

Things like coop cleaning and maintenance and egg gathering and filling the duck pool typically all wait until I get home at the end of the day (or a day off work). Occasionally there is something unforeseen that takes longer. One day I opened the gate and one of the hinges fell off. I HAD to fix the gate before I could leave or chickens could escape and/or predators could get in. The other day there was a snow drift almost 2 feet deep. I had to dig out the doors to the runs and find and dig out the food and water containers in order to fill them. It's good to check on them first thing in the morning when you wake up in case there is something that might take extra time.

 

[AnimalGeek23]

Thanks for all the replies!
For chicks, you’ll need to spend more time... right?

 

[Farmgirl1878]

the work is in getting the coop and run secure. If you have that done, chickens can be less then 10 minutes of your day.

But why would anyone want to spend less than ten minutes a day with them?

 

[AnimalGeek23]

But why would anyone want to spend less than ten minutes a day with them?

I know, right?! I just wanna know how much time you spend with them.
I could spend a whole day with them if I wanted!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I roust them out shortly before sunrise, spend about ten minutes scooping poop out of the sand and checking feeders and waterer, then just sit and watch them for a while before I go in for breakfast. While I’m scooping, the seven older pullets are out on the lawn or more likely, scratching through the leaves around the yard. The eight Littles are chowing down in the run. Most mornings I’ll call the big girls back into the coop and then let the Littles out into the yard to eat some grass and scratch through the leaves and fly around expending energy... They’re not quite old enough yet that they actually want to be outside the run when the Bigs are out, but they do love to be outside the confines of the run.

If it’s a nice day, I usually go back out later in the morning and let the Bigs out again and check for eggs. And I go out in the afternoons too to make sure the Littles get time away from the Bigs to eat and run around. I usually check to see if there’s any poop that needs scooped in the afternoon and pull eggs.

In the evenings, I usually spend a half an hour or so just checking everyone over to make sure they’re all happy, healthy and ready to roost. Then I just lock the doors and head inside for the night. All totalled, I probably spend three hours just hanging with the peeps and doing chores outside. Chicken tv is so interesting, we don’t even have cable anymore!

 

[llombardo]

I try yo get everything ready to go the night before..

I turn the light in the coop on at about 5:30(from the house) In the morning(right now 6:15-6:30) I put down bowls of fermented feed and open up feeders. I toss out some greens for the ducks and some scratch for chickens. I turn the light on in the run(because I may forget at lunch and it's dark when I get home)Then I let them out.

I come home for lunch, let dogs out, then check on chickens and ducks.

Come home at 6pm, check on them, do other chores. I go out at about 8 and get them in the coop, collect eggs, refill water and check food(close up food). Now that it's colder I change the duck pool every other day or so, they swim while I do everything rlse--then I put them away.

It's a lot different now that's it's colder and dark so early. In the warmer months and when it was light out, they got to come out to a side area that I have net covering to scratch around for a couple hours. Up until it got colder I let them out and they scratched around in the dark(very weird chickens-they have no problem in the dark)

I also get side tracked and find things to fix that always take more time. I take and turn leaves/mulch every coupls days at night. I also have rabbits in the run I have to take care of.

 

[Kat2141]

I have a question for y’all:
I go to school at 8:20 AM. Waking up at 7:30 AM... how much minutes should I wake up earlier when I get my chooks?

It really depends on your setup, food/water/run... and how much time you spend just standing there watching them.... that's what takes me so long in the morning LOL

 

[Kat2141]

overall chickens are very low effort, they have zero sense of independence. They want to be in a safe, controlled environment. I thought one of my easter eggers was a real rebel until the day he got out of the yard. I walked up to him expecting a chase, but he literally jumped into my hands.

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

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks for all the replies!
For chicks, you’ll need to spend more time... right?

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.