Daily Routine

[roostereggs]

Oh...I forgot to mention the babies. I go to the workshop and peek in the brooder in the morning. Check water nipples and food. Takes a minute.

Then at night I open the top of the brooder, throw in my stool, and sit with the 6wk olds for anywhere from 30 min to a few hours. I love seeing each of the changes they make on a daily basis. I have about half of the 18 named now. I watch the funny roo behaviors and make a mental note of which roos will stay and which may be dinner. I hand feed them food and treats and get them used to being picked up, flipped over, and examined. Some of them will jump on me now.

And I refill their water bucket and measure the Corid. I switched from medicated food to medicated water. I am starting fermented feed in a few days with their chick starter. Oh, and I sprinkle in some Sweet PDZ and make sure their two box lids are full of sand.

They are going outside soon...eviction date is the 18th at the latest since I will be hatching on the 21st again.

 

[apgreen79]

My routine is pretty simple. I release the girls around 7:30. And the Roo (Randy) is letting me know I should've already been out there. I throw a little scratch out for them, give them fresh water and check for eggs. When we first got out chickens they would not have anything to do with me but now they come running from where ever they are when they see me. I think they figured out that I =food.

After I feed the chickens they free range and make their way back to the hen house about 4:30. Once I see that everyone is in bed I lock them up.
I clean the hen house once a week and put fresh straw in the boxes. Unfortunately we don't have a real coop yet. So they make a mess of the hen house. Hopefully we will have a more suitable chicken palace by spring. And we plan to pasture our chickens.
We've got 5 acres but are surrounded by family and while they don't mind the chickens they don't want the poop on their stuff so we are gonna fence in about an acre for them to roam.

Good luck on your chicken endeavor!!!! Any questions you have about chicken life. These wonderful folks on here are more than happy to help you with. They've helped me even when they didn't know it.

 

[Twinklin]

My boyfriend feeds the chickens before he leaves for work a little before 8am. I get home from work around 9:30am and change their water and move it to the run and let the chickens out of the run to have free range of the yard all day. Around 6:30pm they are already in the coop ready for bed, I move the water back into the coop, lock up the coop and run and bring the feed back into the garage so rats don't come to eat it during the night.

 

[daynamariex]

I used to wake up at about 10.
Go out and give my rooster and three of the hens their breakfast.
Bring the bullied hen back to the house for a separate breakfast.
Rub vaseline on her feet cause it's supposed to help with the cracks.
Take her back to her spot.
Chill out for a bit.
Then cause our chickens roam the property, they'll stand outside the window to make me feel guilty.
So I bring them, the goat and sheep a snack including oats, bread, weetabix, banana and whatever else I can find.
The goat stands up for the bullied chicken so she's usually with him.
Then I spend some quality time with my horse.
Chill out again.
Then just before sunset I lead the chickens to their shed and feed them in there.

But now I have my first broody!

She started incubating 6 days ago, so for the last 6 days I've been checking up on her every half hour to make sure she's fed, watered and safe, cause she chose to nest quite close to the road and I was paranoid someone was gonna see her and take her cause people around where I live are opportunists and will take whatever they can get their hands on. We tried to move her to the sleep out on the second day (when we found her) but she just wanted to get back to the old spot so I returned her. Then today cause it was raining I decided to bring her into the house and she's loved it!

I've always wanted to raise chicks but unfortunately they're due to hatch a week after I leave the country for a year!

 

[ChicknsRock]

In the morning my mom opens up the doors to the chicken coops, and then I feed/water them. I check on them throughout the day, collect eggs, and at night close the doors to the chicken coops up again.

 

[Nick9793]

2AcreFarmer,

In the morning I feed and water the chickens. I feed a ratio of two scoops to one scoop of laying pellets to cracked corn. I do two scoops of laying pellets and visversa. I run two big coops and a few small ones. The two big coops contain two different breads of chickens. Every other day I let a different coop out to free range. I personally sell chicks and like to keep my breads unmixed. It seems to work well for me. During the week I just go to work and come home and collect eggs. Then at dusk I lock up the opened coop. I bring all my waterers inside so that they can have fresh water each day. I have found out that this is key for getting daily eggs from chickens. I really can tell a difference when I do not get time to give new water and leave day old water in the coops. Start all over the next day.

For the weekends or days I am off, I do cleaning. I make sure my feeders and waterers are cleaned. I rake around the bedding in my coops unless it time to replace. I normally replace once a month. If we get a lot of rain I'll have to change it more.

For my small pins or as I call them my ground pins, it all depends on what is in them. I use them mainly for grower cages, however I have one that we keep a few cuckoo maran bantams. For these pins I pretty much do the same as above, unless I have a large amount of pullets in one pin then it will require more cleaning.

I believe in keeping my chickens cleaned and there areas cleaned. When people come to buy from me they are usually impressed on how my family and I manage our flock.

Oh yea, I leave my GSD out to protect my flock during the day. He does not hurt my birds at all. Just lays around and barks at any predators that come around.


Thanks,
Nick

 

[KodiPie]

This is my first winter in taking care of our Chickens, six hens one Rooster with a large Comb that was frostbitten 1 1/2 months ago due to sub zero weather.
I took him to the Vet and he gave me Silvadene cream (burn cream) he like its when I put it on him guess it relieves him.
So I guess this winter will be the hardest in taking care of the Hens and my Rooster "Bill". Otherwise I love going out in the cold and talking with them and whistling
to them, they seem to like that.

Mornings:
Our automatic door opens at 7 a.m they come out into a enclosed run sheathed with plastic. It's colder in the mornings and actually 20* warmer in the afternoons with a southwestern exposure. Around 7:30 I go out to see them, check the water and throw them some scratch to warm their bodies.I check their water to make sure the heater is working and the water is clean as it can be. I also have a small pans of 20% protein Purina "All flock feed" which I feel they need in this weather along with two other pans one of oyster shell and and the third grit. My general feeder has Purina Layena feed. So they have a choice to go to whatever they want to eat. While I am out there I stir my bedding which is deep litter pine shavings and mulched leaves. No eggs to collect as it is to early.

Afternoon: 12-12:30 pm
I go out and recheck the water give them a little corn again to warm them up. By then we have some eggs

Late Afternoon: 3:30 - 4:00 pm
I take two paper plates full of lettuce, blueberries hard boiled egg for more protein. I sprinkle some oatmeal on top and that is their dinner every evening.

Night: 5:30-6:00 pm
By now it is dark outside and they are on their roost inside their coop. I have a heater panel now that we installed that I bought from Taregt that is bringing their coop up to average temp of 35-40* their body heat I found is bringing the insulated coop above the outside temperature by 15*. Pending how cold it is outside I have a hi-lo switch I bought to control the temp inside the coop. If we are having sub zero weather I have a 75 watt heat lamp that is red that helps a lot to keep them warmer not above 40*, to keep them strong and not such a shock when they go outside. Chicken are smart they will go in the coop if it is too cold out.

***Water*** I have a 3 gallon heated water fountain. I use the save a chick electrolytes and vitamins I muse 2 packs per 3 gallons just to boost their immunity systems.
I think this is so important!

So that is my daily routine with my feathered friends. Happy Chickens to you! Kodi Here is a picture of my flock...........