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cfarmhouse said:
That would be wonderful. I have always wanted chickens since I was a kid. I was forever in my grandparent's chicken coop and had them all named. However, life happens and we are all busy. I really want them, but the more I read, the more I am concerned about the time it would take to take care for them properly? Cleaning cages, sick birds, etc. I wanted to have them at home with me, but what about smell, flies, etc. living in a small lot in the city. I have the option to have them about 15 minutes out where we have the horses out in the open, but I'm not sure about the foxes, coyotes, etc. I wouldn't want them to be killed even in an enclosed cage? Not sure what to do. Thank you for your help.
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The amount of effort in keeping chickens is directly proportional to the design of their living space and the number of birds you keep.
Going with the minimum recommendations on size is a mistake. I always recommend more than the commonly quoted minimums.
Using poop boards under the roosts with granular Sweet PDZ goes a long way towards ease of chicken keeping as does having a large, covered, fully predator proof run attached to the coop. That way, as soon as the chickens come off the roost in the morning, they go out to the run.
Having both the coop and the run walk-in style is a huge help as well. They are MUCH easier to work with than a style that you cannot walk in.
I would not have my chickens on a property where I didn't live. You cannot monitor them and if left to totally free range on the horse farm, they will be slowly picked off by predators.

To give you an idea of the time commitment involved, I have a flock of 21 full size birds. I ferment my own homemade feed and feed Flock Raiser as a mash as long as the temperatures will be mostly above freezing for the day so I do invest a bit more time with food prep than those who just dump a bag in a large hopper style feeder. I clean my poop boards daily and dump them in my compost bin. I clean my coop out once a year. I add free wood chips to my run once a year.
I spend about 30 minutes total per day tending to my flock of 21. That includes food prep, cleaning and lock up. Twice a week I clean out the waterers and feeders and that takes about 15 minutes each time. Once a month, I do health checks that take about 1 to 1.5 hours.
 

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