Daily routine with 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.

We do supervised free ranging for the same reason! Definitely gives me a little peace of mind knowing they are always in eye shot.

 

[Chickassan]

I have 15 in all, a rooster with a harem of 8 ladies and a rooster with 5.
Yeah,give raisins a try all mine will eat them and they are my oldest rooster's favorite treat.

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

 

[Zan]

Morning I let the adults out of their house into a large run. Top off water (all 3 sources) and top off feeder, scatter scratch in the run. Let out babies that I have separate to free range and fill their food/water, let my broodie and her clutch out into their small pen inside the run fill her food/water. Check for eggs.

Mid day, check water and eggs.

Late afternoon, after all eggs are layed, I let the adult flock out to free range.

Dark, close everyone back up, one last egg check.

I have a mixed flock, 50ish chickens. Ages 5 weeks to 5 yrs. 4 turkeys heading for the freezer and 3 adult ducks.

 

[Kaesi2020]

Morning I let the adults out of their house into a large run. Top off water (all 3 sources) and top off feeder, scatter scratch in the run. Let out babies that I have separate to free range and fill their food/water, let my broodie and her clutch out into their small pen inside the run fill her food/water. Check for eggs.

Mid day, check water and eggs.

Late afternoon, after all eggs are layed, I let the adult flock out to free range.

Dark, close everyone back up, one last egg check.

I have a mixed flock, 50ish chickens. Ages 5 weeks to 5 yrs. 4 turkeys heading for the freezer and 3 adult ducks.

Thanks for sharing. Any particular reason you do the free ranging in the evening, is it because there are less predators at that time?

 

[Kaesi2020]

I have 15 in all, a rooster with a harem of 8 ladies and a rooster with 5.
Yeah,give raisins a try all mine will eat them and they are my oldest rooster's favorite treat.

Will do! I tried peach chunks today for the first time, it was refreshing for them I think with the heat we had today. I love introducing them to new treats.

 

[Zan]

Thanks for sharing. Any particular reason you do the free ranging in the evening, is it because there are less predators at that time?

It's so they lay in the nest boxes instead of the briar patch

 

[Kaesi2020]

It's so they lay in the nest boxes instead of the briar patch

Gotcha! I had not thought of that. Mine are only ten weeks old so I'm sure I'll be making the same considerations when they start laying

 

[RumneyRoost]

I’m a morning person so in the summer I’m up with the sun to let the girls out at 5am. They have a 30’x50’ area to “free range” in (where they’re protected from my dog). I take their food out with me and give them fresh water.

During the week I go back out at 7am to lock them into the predator proof run while I’m at work. They usually get a treat as a bribe. If there are any early eggs I collect them.
At 4:30pm I let them out again for the evening. They put themselves to bed and I go lock everything up.
I can easily see them from the house, and my dog likes to lay on the deck watching for predators (and squirrels).

In the winter I have a light on a timer that turns on at 6:30am so I can see them before I leave for work. It turns off at 8am.
When I get home from work they’re usually heading to bed. With snow on the ground 4-6 months of the year they prefer to stay in the roofed run.

On the weekends or summer evenings I spend more time visiting with them. They get lots of exercise running every time they see us, hoping for treats.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hi all, I am interested in hearing about the routines other people have with their chickens, like times and events for caring for them on a daily basis.

For example:

A typical day for me involves waking my 6 chickens up around 7:30. This involves opening the bottom coop door to let the hens out into the run. When I do this I pet them a bit and check them over quickly for any issues. I also use this time to freshen their water and food and put them down in the run with them.
During the week, I have work on and off throughout the day (I am a second grade teacher teaching remotely due to the virus so I have availability of and off until around 3) so depending on my schedule, I basically let them out to free range whenever I can supervise (may be 9 to 10, may be 12 to 2, etc). During their free range time, I do coop and run cleaning. I am using the deep litter method in the run so I may sprinkle some grass clippings or pine shavings over the larger poops. I basically just spend a few minutes freshening up the run for them. I am using the deep bedding method in the coop so I scoop out the poops in there and add a fresh layer of bedding in certain areas. This cleaning takes about 15 minutes. I like to do it each day since I have the time currently to do so. After that, I spend some time with the chickens in the yard and then they usually go back in the run for a few hours so I can do more chores and school work inside the house.
I let them free range again from about 5 to 7. They tend to sit with me at this time on my chair which is very cute (my two buff orpingtons sit in my lap like lap dogs and the others perch on the chair arms). Between 7 and 730 they know to go in the run, relax, and slowly move up to their coop. During that time, I am in the house, making dinner, etc.
I'll come back out at around 8 to make sure they are all in the coop, they have their waterer refreshed and back in the coop with them, and I lock everything down for the night. I am still leaving food for them in the coop at night but I'm thinking of stopping this to prevent pests.

What does a typical day look like for you???

My typical day and routine with my chickens starts around 7 AM when I go outside and I let them out of their enclosed run into the bigger chain-link area that they spend the day.I then give them fresh food and water and roll up the newspapers underneath their roost and then I pick up any kind of poops I see. I give them their morning treat of a few meal worms. I feed my dogs and then I go inside and make myself some coffee and relax for about an hour and plan my day. I take my dogs down to the beach every morning and then when I come back I go into the run and pick up poo again. I quiet them down if they are fighting over the nesting boxes And then one of my chickens likes to come inside to lay her eggs, so if she is throwing a big hysterical fit, I bring her inside and I put her in a cardboard box and then she makes really quiet happy sounds, she usually sits inside the box for around three hours while I am gone . I come back home after the beach and I usually hack down some plants that are overgrown so they can pick through them and then I pick up poo again and collect eggs. I work from home and then I usually work for a few hours and then I pick up poo again. I let them out about 2-3 hours before the sun goes down to free range and I set up their area for bedtime. I make sure that their food and water is filled and inside the enclosed run area and they usually go to bed and get on the roost inside their coop when the sun goes down and I go in and just make sure they are OK and all up on the roost at dark. I spend a lot of time checking up on my chickens, LOL!

 

[Kaesi2020]

I’m a morning person so in the summer I’m up with the sun to let the girls out at 5am. They have a 30’x50’ area to “free range” in (where they’re protected from my dog). I take their food out with me and give them fresh water.

During the week I go back out at 7am to lock them into the predator proof run while I’m at work. They usually get a treat as a bribe. If there are any early eggs I collect them.
At 4:30pm I let them out again for the evening. They put themselves to bed and I go lock everything up.
I can easily see them from the house, and my dog likes to lay on the deck watching for predators (and squirrels).

In the winter I have a light on a timer that turns on at 6:30am so I can see them before I leave for work. It turns off at 8am.
When I get home from work they’re usually heading to bed. With snow on the ground 4-6 months of the year they prefer to stay in the roofed run.

On the weekends or summer evenings I spend more time visiting with them. They get lots of exercise running every time they see us, hoping for treats.

Hi! I have a feeling my routine will look similar to yours once work starts back up for me. Wake up, put chickens in the run, go to work, come back and let them out. Do you use the light in the coop to help with egg production?