Daily routine with your flock

[Kaesi2020]

Zip ties are also really handy for keeping track of who you have and haven't dusted for mites and so on. My girls have recently become the "Charmed ones". I found some really cute zip tie charms on line and I use them as part of my chicken registry. There is a picture of each hen, a picture of her tie color and charm and a picture of her egg, along with info on what kind of bird,, when purchased or hatched and so on. If you have a bunch of the same kind of chicken, this helps you keep track of who's laying what, having symptoms or whatever.

Love that, very useful. I may consider doing this. How big is your flock?

 

[Kaesi2020]

At 6am I let my 4 RIR's out of the coop and into the run. At 8:30am I let them free range while I rake out the run which has a dirt floor and the coop (dirt over hardware cloth) using the flat side of the rake. I replenish food, water and crushed oyster shells and collect eggs. I lure them back into the run with mealyworm treats. At 3pm now that it's extremely hot here in GA, I bring them cut up watermelon or apples as a cool treat. At 8:15 pm I close the door to the coop as they will have mounted the roost in the coop by then. This is my favorite part of the day. I tell them in a soft voice that they are now safe and can sleep peacefully. I thank them for the eggs and wish them sweet dreams.

Thanks for sharing! I talk to mine at bedtime too- love seeing them get nestled in for the night.

 

[Lilyput]

I feed and water inside and outside. I have a flock with a rooster, some hens, and usually juveniles of some age. I go down around 9:00 to feed, water, and open the pop door. This may or may not include a separate grow-out coop or chicks in a brooder in my coop. That part varies.

Around 4:30 I again feed and water and collect eggs, checking under a brood for new eggs if I have a broody hen.

After dark I go down and shut the pop door and check that they are all where they are supposed to be. I check for late eggs. That's a typical day.

I scrape my droppings boards as needed. Depending in how many chickens I have and how humid the weather is that might be once a week or once every 6 weeks.

There are special days or times. When I think they are ready I put zip ties on their legs so I can identify them. When I'm trying to determine which pullet is laying which egg so I can decide which to keep and which to eat I'm often down there three or four times a day extra. I occasionally check that the zip ties are not too tight check and for mites and lice. I'm down there 8 or 9 days a year when I butcher some. Broodies and their chicks or eggs in my incubator or chicks in my brooder in the coop require some special time. Many days in summer I take stuff from the garden down to them during the day. When the algae starts growing in the waterers I wash them with a bleach solution, maybe three or four times a year. When the grass and weeds need it I mow in their area surrounded with electric netting so the good stuff can grow, again three or four times a year. When I catch a predator in my trap I have to deal with that, maybe 8 to 10 raccoons a year.

But your question was my typical routine. My typical routine is three trips down there a day probably a little less than a half hour a day in total. Most of this other stuff has to do with my goals and how I manage them.

I love your bromides at the end!

 

[Kellow1]

Thanks for the info. I know from my chicken camera that my hens get up pretty early (5 am off the roost) and drink water right away. That's why I would be worried about removing that from the coop.

Is your waterer a sealed system such as the Premier1 example I referred to earlier?

 

[Kellow1]

Very nice! I give mine a little yogurt too, I may try adding the flaxseed. I too love hearing what everyone does with their chickens! You and I have a similar routine- and I use a little pooper scooper too! Sort of like you would for a kitty litter.

Chickens don't do well with dairy products. Instead of purchasing all these supplements, I purchase a good quality layer feed with all that stuff in it. When you spend money on a good quality feed, then add to it with all the other stuff, you are diluting the nutrients in the feed.

 

[Kellow1]

Thanks for that information, I really appreciate it. So it would be ok for them not to have access to water in the morning when they wake up?

Do you have an enclosed run attached to your coop? When do you let your chicks out of the coop?
The time of day hens lay eggs depends on several things! Considering that it takes at least 25 hours for an egg to be created and layed, the time of day would be getting an hour later each day for each hen. I get eggs from some of my hens as late as 5 PM in the day. I also have a separate nest box house for my nest box.

 

[Chickassan]

I mix my feed the night before 6 cups layer 3 cups seeds and set the bucket by the backdoor next to my coop shoes.
At 7:00 am I grab a slice of bread or other treaty thing head to the back door, slip on my shoes, grab my bucket.
I fill up four food bowls and set them decent distances apart, fill up the water bowls and then unlock and open the coop and run so the kids can have breakfast and get a bite of that treat I grabbed.
I boot the broody hens off the nest, carry Hobo to breakfast because she's super prone to bumblefoot and I don't want her jumping from the roost.
Then before I go back inside I walk the fence checking for breaches that would make free ranging unsafe.
At 12 I bring out seeds and raisins for lunch and count heads, gather any eggs.
At 4:30 dinner is served, seeds,scraps boiled eggs. I boot the broodies again so they get to eat.
At 8pm, I take a treat out with me,gather up the food bowls,gather eggs,unprop the coop doors so the chickens get the idea i'll be closing up soon.
I hang out until the older rooster and his 8 girls go roost once they do I count heads,check on my broodies and lock up one side of the coop.
Then I take my treat holler "chick,chick,fatties time for bed!" I take some treat chunks toss them in the run and my young rooster and his 5 girls run in and I shut the run.
I toss treats up the ramp into the coop and they follow, then I lock that coop side and the run.
Then I tell them goodnight,i'll see them in the morning and it goes on like that every single day.

 

[Kaesi2020]

I mix my feed the night before 6 cups layer 3 cups seeds and set the bucket by the backdoor next to my coop shoes.
At 7:00 am I grab a slice of bread or other treaty thing head to the back door, slip on my shoes, grab my bucket.
I fill up four food bowls and set them decent distances apart, fill up the water bowls and then unlock and open the coop and run so the kids can have breakfast and get a bite of that treat I grabbed.
I boot the broody hens off the nest, carry Hobo to breakfast because she's super prone to bumblefoot and I don't want her jumping from the roost.
Then before I go back inside I walk the fence checking for breaches that would make free ranging unsafe.
At 12 I bring out seeds and raisins for lunch and count heads, gather any eggs.
At 4:30 dinner is served, seeds,scraps boiled eggs. I boot the broodies again so they get to eat.
At 8pm, I take a treat out with me,gather up the food bowls,gather eggs,unprop the coop doors so the chickens get the idea i'll be closing up soon.
I hang out until the older rooster and his 8 girls go roost once they do I count heads,check on my broodies and lock up one side of the coop.
Then I take my treat holler "chick,chick,fatties time for bed!" I take some treat chunks toss them in the run and my young rooster and his 5 girls run in and I shut the run.
I toss treats up the ramp into the coop and they follow, then I lock that coop side and the run.
Then I tell them goodnight,i'll see them in the morning and it goes on like that every single day.

Awesome! How many chickens do you have altogether? I haven't tried raisins with mine yet so maybe I will!

 

[Kaesi2020]

Do you have an enclosed run attached to your coop? When do you let your chicks out of the coop?
The time of day hens lay eggs depends on several things! Considering that it takes at least 25 hours for an egg to be created and layed, the time of day would be getting an hour later each day for each hen. I get eggs from some of my hens as late as 5 PM in the day. I also have a separate nest box house for my nest box.

Our coop has a run attached to it. We keep them locked in the coop overnight. In the daytime, they free range or if they cannot be supervised, they hang out in the run.

 

[Kaesi2020]

Is your waterer a sealed system such as the Premier1 example I referred to earlier?

No it is not. We have a temporary one but I'm going to check out your link! Thanks for sharing that.