Daily routine with your flock

[rosemarythyme]

Typical day as of right now (changes by week since I'm dealing with chicks at the moment):

Morning
- Coop's auto door pops open at 7:45 AM.
- I get out to the chickens around 8:30-9 AM and bring out their breakfast bowls of fermented feed.
- Hens start eating breakfast. I take advantage of their distraction to deal with babies. I kick open the brooder and let the chicks out. Refill chick food and water, scrape off the poop on their heating pad, stir around the bedding. Play with chicks a bit. Chicks done.
- I scoop out obvious poops from the run and sift out poop under the roost.
- Bring dry chicken feeder into the coop, pick up eggs if there's any, and check the chicken waterer.

Afternoon
- Let hens out for supervised yard time at around 3:45 PM. They stay out for approx. 15 minutes.
- After bringing hens back in they get a bit of a snack (usually a couple Tbsp of BOSS or BSFL).
- Play with chicks a bit.
- Scoop out obvious poops from the run again. Then take in fermented feed bowls along with eggs, if any.

Evening
- Once it's dark (around 9 PM), hubby goes out and takes the dry feeder out for overnight storage and picks up any late afternoon eggs. He does a head check of all the birds and puts our special needs hen on the roost if she didn't make it up there. Brooder get locked up too. Auto door shuts at 9:30 PM.
- Around 11:30 PM hubby checks coop cam to make sure everyone (aka special needs) is still roosted, that auto door has properly closed, and that nothing is amiss.

 

[CraftyHen]

Summer routine starts anywhere between 630-9, depending on day.
Start with the chickens furthest from house, next to garden. Check for/gather a.m. eggs. Quick clean of poop deck. Check feed & water in run; toss some treats. Go to garden to gather greens for rabbits.
In rabbit barn, each breeder gets the fresh salad and a scratch. Turn on fans and the radio. Refill all water bowls and then fill feeders in order: grow out pens, mama's w/babies, dry does, bucks. Different feeds depending on who is being fed. I clean out the poop daily in summer. Some cages have trays and others have tarps. It all goes into a big tote on wheels which I drag out to compost. Clean out the tote and drag it back.

In the big chicken run, the quail (caged) are fed & watered. Refresh their sand boxes. Every few days I also clean out the trays under the cages. In coop I do quick scoop up from the poop deck. Check nest boxes & gather the early eggs. Refill waterers, feeders. Toss treats.
Sometimes they get to go out all day, other times in later afternoon.
Evening check is anytime from 730 to 9p, depending on sunset times. About 30 min prior, I gather eggs from quail and chickens, tend any feed water issues. Do a head count before I lock up. In rabbit barn, refill waters, feed growing kits more pellets plus hay. Adults get hay. Nursing moms get both. Fans and radio off, lights out and doors locked by night fall.
In Winter, I go out about 8-9a, I have to haul 5 gal buckets hot water out there minimum 2x day. Start with rabbits, replace frozen water bowls morning/evening. Only adults, no babies so it's faster to water and feed. Empty poop to compost about every 3rd day. No quail over the winter. Tend Chickens in back coop and then the big coop. Sometimes they get hot breakfast. Sometimes I have to haul more water to them to refill heated waterers.
Check everyone and gather eggs again around noon. Replace rabbit water if needed.
Feed, water, egg Check and bed down everyone no later than 4p.

 

[aart]

All times vary, depending on time of year and what's going on.
If there are issues in flock, I may be out there once an hour.
But the basics are as follows.
Morning.
Toss some scratch in main run.
Open pop doors.
Push coop shavings out of the way.
Top off feed and water.
Sift poop boards.
Redistribute shavings.

Afternoon.
Check nests and take look around.
Might toss out some greenery.

Night(usually after dark).
Headcount and lock up.
Maybe exams need to be done(well after dark).

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Thanks! Just yesterday we had a hawk sitting really low in one of the trees close to our coop. We didn’t know he was there until he screeched and a couple of blue jays started dive bombing him,

You and your mom have a nice system! I feel the same about the hawks, I supervise when they free range but I know even with supervision things can happen.

eventually chasing him off...Gotta love blue jays and crows for that reason.

 

[SquawkFlock]

Right now we have a young flock (from 2 weeks to 6 weeks) of various chickens and some guineas. We haven't had any problems with introducing new chicks with the others and the temps here have been highs around 90 and lows at night about 70 so we've had them all in the coop instead of brooder. I go out in the morning around 7 and let them in the run. Refill/clean food and water. Play with them for a bit. Go back out around 3 or 4 and top off food and water again. Clean up any messes they've made. Play with them some more. Around this time the kids usually come sit in the coop or run with them to play too. Then right at dark I go out and put them back in coop for the night. At this time I also give treats (been using meal worms but looking for other options). Mainly because of the guineas so that when they start to free range, they will hopefully be easier to call in at nightThen I bug my husband telling him all about the chicks and what they did today and all my big plans for them. (I don't think he cares much tho...)

 

[Kaesi2020]

Right now we have a young flock (from 2 weeks to 6 weeks) of various chickens and some guineas. We haven't had any problems with introducing new chicks with the others and the temps here have been highs around 90 and lows at night about 70 so we've had them all in the coop instead of brooder. I go out in the morning around 7 and let them in the run. Refill/clean food and water. Play with them for a bit. Go back out around 3 or 4 and top off food and water again. Clean up any messes they've made. Play with them some more. Around this time the kids usually come sit in the coop or run with them to play too. Then right at dark I go out and put them back in coop for the night. At this time I also give treats (been using meal worms but looking for other options). Mainly because of the guineas so that when they start to free range, they will hopefully be easier to call in at nightThen I bug my husband telling him all about the chicks and what they did today and all my big plans for them. (I don't think he cares much tho...)

Thanks for sharing! Our routines are kind of similar! Especially the part about sharing chicken details and stories with your significant other and them not seeming like they care LOL. The mealworms are helping me with my 8 week olds. I shake the container and they come running, works like a charm to get them back in the coop for bed.

 

[Kaesi2020]

Yes, they can! Depending on how your coop is ventilated, you may need to put up baffles or similar to block winter winds from being an issue. We have all around ventilation bc we put the roof up on 2x4's, so there is a 3.5" gap all around, completely above the roosts and the bird's heads. The North and South walls have a big triangle above the main wall due to the roof angle - it is all HWC, so lots of summer ventilation. In the winter, we made a triangular piece to fit into the north side, to block the north winds. We leave the South side open - there is 6' of roof extending on that side and the winds are not coming from the south. However, the main point is to think about your winter winds and weather and where the snow/wind/sleet/ice will be coming from and if it will need to be covered. Plastic can work very well too. You want and need ventilation, bc too much moisture will cause frostbite on the birds, they can handle cold, as long as they are dry. But you want the ventilation not to cause drafts on their roost area, but to keep the inside of the coop humidity no higher than outside humidity. So, if you tighten up the coop too much, the heated waterer and poop and breathing from the birds can raise the humidity higher than the outside. You have plenty of time to figure all this out, though!

Thank you! We definitely need to reconsider our current ventilation setup. For one thing, the roosts are right on level with the windows (covered with hardware cloth). We have ventilation in the ridge vent and installed some more windows near the floor of the coop.

 

[Kaesi2020]

The girls get 1st attention in the morning, usually get up with the Sun coming in the window (early riser) go out and tell the girls hello, clean the roost, check water and feed and give them a little treat. Then there out free ranging the rest of the day (backyard). As it turns dusk I go check on them in the roost, collect eggs and wish them a good night, closing pen doors as I leave. If I'm not out working and happen to be in the yard they follow me around to see if they can entice a treat or two.

Thanks for sharing! What treats do you entice them with? And I love the thought of free ranging throughout the day- do you have any safeguards in place for predators out there or natural protections like trees and such? Right now I supervise mine when they free range but plan to give them a bit more independence as they mature - they are 8.5 weeks old currently.

 

[Kaesi2020]

Summer routine starts anywhere between 630-9, depending on day.
Start with the chickens furthest from house, next to garden. Check for/gather a.m. eggs. Quick clean of poop deck. Check feed & water in run; toss some treats. Go to garden to gather greens for rabbits.
In rabbit barn, each breeder gets the fresh salad and a scratch. Turn on fans and the radio. Refill all water bowls and then fill feeders in order: grow out pens, mama's w/babies, dry does, bucks. Different feeds depending on who is being fed. I clean out the poop daily in summer. Some cages have trays and others have tarps. It all goes into a big tote on wheels which I drag out to compost. Clean out the tote and drag it back.

In the big chicken run, the quail (caged) are fed & watered. Refresh their sand boxes. Every few days I also clean out the trays under the cages. In coop I do quick scoop up from the poop deck. Check nest boxes & gather the early eggs. Refill waterers, feeders. Toss treats.
Sometimes they get to go out all day, other times in later afternoon.
Evening check is anytime from 730 to 9p, depending on sunset times. About 30 min prior, I gather eggs from quail and chickens, tend any feed water issues. Do a head count before I lock up. In rabbit barn, refill waters, feed growing kits more pellets plus hay. Adults get hay. Nursing moms get both. Fans and radio off, lights out and doors locked by night fall.
In Winter, I go out about 8-9a, I have to haul 5 gal buckets hot water out there minimum 2x day. Start with rabbits, replace frozen water bowls morning/evening. Only adults, no babies so it's faster to water and feed. Empty poop to compost about every 3rd day. No quail over the winter. Tend Chickens in back coop and then the big coop. Sometimes they get hot breakfast. Sometimes I have to haul more water to them to refill heated waterers.
Check everyone and gather eggs again around noon. Replace rabbit water if needed.
Feed, water, egg Check and bed down everyone no later than 4p.

You are a hard worker and its obvious you care for your animals well! When you say you give them hot breakfast, what does that entail?

 

[Kaesi2020]

Well it changes, now, I go down, feed the meat birds, water them. Go farther to the layers, feed and water them. Sometimes I lock them up at night, but not always. Sometimes I check twice a day, sometimes not.

When things need freshening up, I do a broom out, or take a pitch fork and pile up the bedding into mini haystacks, they will re-scatter it. Breaks it down for better mulch for my garden. Sometimes rearrange the clutter to give things a bit of change up.

I do line my nest boxes with a piece of cardboard, then add nesting material, makes tipping out a dirty nest box pretty easy. I feed out in the run in several places.

Sometimes I let them out, sometimes I don't. If I do, I definitely make it down again at night to lock up the run.

Mrs K

Thanks! How many are in your flock?