I want egg-laying pets, not just pets

[Whirlwind]

Agree with Akane it really doesn't take that much time for 3 chickens.

Also when mine get out to free range they find the dirtiest water to drink even when there is clean available. The cats do it to. They must have tough bodies. It would kill people to drink that water.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I pretty much agree with Akane. I do clean my waterers when they start to turn green, however, but not until they start to turn green or get "dirty". You can make as much work as you wish in keeping chickens, but they really have a few basic needs. If you meet those basic needs of shelter, protection, food, water and basic cleanliness, they will most likely thrive. As others mentioned, people on this forum keep chickens for a lot of different reasons and in very different circumstances and conditions. That's a big part of why you will get a lot of different opinions and conflicting advice on here. I think Nifty's poll demonstrates this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=232357

Chickens usually reach their peak producing period after their first adult molt. It depends on when they are hatched, but it is normally when they are one to two years old. After that, they normally drop production by 15% after each following molt, usually once a year. And production can vary due to the time of year. Most breeeds production drops off in the winter or maybe during the heat of summer, depending where you are and your climate. If you get a prolific egg layer, you can easily get 6 eggs a week from each chicken during her best production times. The next year, it may be 5 eggs a week. The next, maybe 3 or 4. When, if, and how you rotate the chickens is purely up to you and your desires.

You'll note I am using a lot of weasel words like usually and most. Each chicken is an individual and may not follow the norm.

You mentioned you are going to the coop section. There is a ton of good information over there. If I might mention here, you will see a rule of thumb for space of 4 square feet per chicken in the coop with 10 square feet of chicken in the run. Especially with only three chickens in your circumstances, more will be better. There are a lot of things that make up that 4 square feet. One is that you have enough chickens for the average to mean something. Another is access to feeder and waterer. And a big one for you is poop load the coop can carry with normal management practices. Poop will not smell that bad if you can keep it dry and don't let it get too thick. The bigger the coop, the more poop load it can carry and the less you have to actively manage the poop. You'll find the area with the most poop is under the roosts. I have different circumstances than you, but I find raking every week or two under the roosts keeps the smell down, even in wet humid weather.

Good luck and I'm glad you found this forum.

 

[patandchickens]

Assuming you're set up intelligently and are not doing gratuitous work just for fun, three chickens are no more work than three tomato plants. Arguably less

Pat