Daily Routine

[aoxa]

That is one loaded question...

Morning (in winter): 6:30am - 7:20am

• Drive down to the barn (way too slippery to walk) My BMD Henry usually comes with me.
• Turn on all lights. I open at 6:30am in the winter, so it's still dark.
• Say good morning to everyone as I turn on the lights. Especially my favourite rooster Jagger who is in a breeding pen with 13 girls.
• Break ice out of tub in big coop.
• If it is warm enough to leave the big door open in the large coop, move water tub outside.
• Check to make sure feeder is full from night before (it is)
• Go into the heated tack room and retrieve four waterers I filled the night prior. I have to do two trips, as I can only carry two at a time. Try to keep them from spilling..
• Add them to each breeding pen

Visual of breeding pens.

• Each one needs their water added and I have heated dishes in there that need to be topped off with fermented feed each morning.
• Make sure each hallway pen has liquid water and that their feed is topped off.
• Say goodmorning to the birds in the tack room. Check all their waters and feed.. Sometimes they knock them over or kick shavings in them, so I have to remove the shavings and refill if tipped
• Refill the goat's hay and make sure their water is liquid. Break ice if there is ice in the bucket.
• Feed and water the baby barn chickens
• If I have extra time I sit on my stool and watch everyone in the big coop. I usually do have plenty of time to do this in the morning. Morning chores don't take any more than 30 minutes total.
• DONE

Night Chores (winter) Usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours each night. 5pm-6:30pm

• Remove all waterers from the pens above and bring to heated tack room. Clean and refill. Set aside for morning
• Top off all food in all pens. We have 10 pens and one big room for the layers.
• Refresh water in hallway pens and the big coop.
• Clean and refill all waters in the heated room (so that's 4 separate containers).
• Collect breeding pen eggs. Mark the date and breed. Store them in flats in the heated room.
• Collect layer eggs in bucket. Make sure not to get eaten alive by the red sex links who always think you are food.
• Add fresh bedding in pens or in big barn if needed (usually once a week).
• Make sure oyster shell is full and free from debris. Add a scoop of it in each small pen weekly. Same with grit.
• Clean out any poop in the nesting boxes. They like to roost in them.
• Throw scratch in bedding for them to turn it up.
• Change up the goat water.
• Fill up the hay rack.
• Milk the goats
• Curse at the goats for trying to escape when you leave through the door.
• Feed rabbits
• Make new Fermented feed. Usually do this every other day or every 3 days.
• Sweep hallway and tack room.
• Double check that each individual pen is fed and water. "food, water, food water, food water, etc.. CHECK).
• Sort the layer eggs into flats and store in heated room (we heat this room to 50F).
• Once a week take all flats of eggs up to the house.
• Wash a million eggs and package them for customers. This takes me a good 1.5 hours each week. I had 25 dozen to wash, dry, package and label yesterday. If I have help we can cut time in half.

I think I got everything... At 7:30-8pm every night I drive back down to the barn and turn off all the lights and say goodnight.

Repeat...

 

[2AcreFarmer]

How do you make fermented feed? @aoxa

 

[jsmith2952]

@2AcreFarmer --I just have to say that I think it's very cool that you're not only getting into chicken keeping, but are considerate to your chickens' needs. I only have 3 myself, and I find that right now, I spend most of my time making sure their water isn't frozen, constantly checking for eggs for the same reason, and feeding them LOTS!

I'm in Canada--so much snow right now. Not sure where you are, but I agree with the other posters that having some straw in the run would be good. They like to peck in it and push it all over the place into little piles and stuff. There's another thread on here somewhere about keeping your chickens from getting bored in the winter--lots of fun little things you can try that don't cost much/free. My chickens go crazy for scraps and seeds, but won't touch greens right now if you paid 'em! You'll learn what yours like. I free range mine most of the year, but right now they aren't interested in leaving their run. So, I think keeping yours confined is totally fine, as long as they have stuff to peck at and whatnot.

You'll find a routine that works for you. Lots of people work and don't have time to be out checking on their chickens 10 times a day. Even if you can just go before school and after and then again at dusk, I'm sure things should be fine.

Good Luck!

edited by staff

 

[2AcreFarmer]

@jsmith2952 thanks for the reply! I have a question about the hay. How much do I need to give them in a 10x10x6 dog lot. I don't want it really deep. And I don't want it real muddy in there ( my run doesn't get very muddy except around the edges because its covered). Should give them the hay to spread on their own or should I spread it?

 

[Beekissed]

@jsmith2952 thanks for the reply! I have a question about the hay. How much do I need to give them in a 10x10x6 dog lot. I don't want it really deep. And I don't want it real muddy in there ( my run doesn't get very muddy except around the edges because its covered). Should give them the hay to spread on their own or should I spread it?

You don't want to use hay or straw as both just get damp, hold mold and moisture and are hard for the birds to toss and dig through. You'll want bedding/litter of small pieces like leaves, dry grass clippings, bark, shavings, sawdust, pine needles, etc. It's good to vary the materials and not make it all one type, as this creates more ability for the break down of materials, more habitat for bugs and worms and also keeps it from clumping and holding moisture for too long.

Try to create a forest floor type soil covering...you can even throw weed trimmings, twigs and even larger branches into the bedding to create spaces for air pockets and moisture drainage. Here's a few pics of the mix of materials in a typical deep litter in my coop:





This is a pic of flower bed trimmings placed in the coop to be incorporated into the litter...you would not believe how much material this coop has swallowed in the last 2 years. It just gets composted into the soils of the coop, binding with the poop deposited there and the bugs come up from the soil to feast on the rich compost there.










This is how to avoid a muddy, stinky, slimy run where the flies congregate in the summer months. In the past few years I've not seen a single fly in my coop...some of that I attribute to the use of fermented feeds and some to the deep litter. The poop just disappears into the litter where flies cannot access it.

 

[2AcreFarmer]

You don't want to use hay or straw as both just get damp, hold mold and moisture and are hard for the birds to toss and dig through. You'll want bedding/litter of small pieces like leaves, dry grass clippings, bark, shavings, sawdust, pine needles, etc. It's good to vary the materials and not make it all one type, as this creates more ability for the break down of materials, more habitat for bugs and worms and also keeps it from clumping and holding moisture for too long. Try to create a forest floor type soil covering...you can even throw weed trimmings, twigs and even larger branches into the bedding to create spaces for air pockets and moisture drainage. Here's a few pics of the mix of materials in a typical deep litter in my coop: This is a pic of flower bed trimmings placed in the coop to be incorporated into the litter...you would not believe how much material this coop has swallowed in the last 2 years. It just gets composted into the soils of the coop, binding with the poop deposited there and the bugs come up from the soil to feast on the rich compost there. This is how to avoid a muddy, stinky, slimy run where the flies congregate in the summer months. In the past few years I've not seen a single fly in my coop...some of that I attribute to the use of fermented feeds and some to the deep litter. The poop just disappears into the litter where flies cannot access it.

@Beekissed Okay what if my run is covered / waterproof? Is it still going to decompose? And how much do I start off putting down?

 

[aoxa]

@Beekissed

Okay what if my run is covered / waterproof? Is it still going to decompose? And how much do I start off putting down?

I think it's 4-6 inches of bedding to start out.. I started with about 3-4. It's probably 6-8 inches now. I have a dirt floor, and it seems to disappear (the bedding). It's magic!

 

[Beekissed]

Mine does too! Just...gone. And the peach trees below the coop had fruit for the first time in 15 years due to the run off from the coop soils. The grass around the coop has increased in color and thickness as well...it's sort of like having a leach bed from a sewer system in the area around the coop.

My current litter is about 10-12 in. also where I build it a little deeper and it composts slower in the winter months.

 

[aart]

Mine does too! Just...gone. And the peach trees below the coop had fruit for the first time in 15 years due to the run off from the coop soils. The grass around the coop has increased in color and thickness as well...it's sort of like having a leach bed from a sewer system in the area around the coop.

My current litter is about 10-12 in. also where I build it a little deeper and it composts slower in the winter months.

It IS a leach bed...lol

 

[Beekissed]

Yep! There's even a small, natural swale that runs diagonally from that area and where the rain has funneled into it it is green clear down the length of the swale until it spreads out at the end, where it's also deep green. Too bad a person could keep their coop just north of the garden, on a slope, and get that wonderful benefit of the slow seepage of nutrients.