What am I getting myself into?

[FireTigeris]

With all of that going on I'd wait, you can save all the construction scraps to build the coop, lowering its cost!

 

[2DogsFarm]

Pffffbbbttt!
I work 4 days a week - gone from 8A until 5:30P or later.

I also have a horse & pony, housecat, barncat & pond fish to look after twice a day every day.

My routine takes less than an hour for all of them in the morning and less than that at night.
Of that time maybe 15min is spent making sure chickens have fresh feed & water, scooping poop and getting them out in their fenced yard.
When I get home from work I gather eggs & let them out for a bit while I feed the horses.
I used to let the chickens freerange, but they chose to visit my only neighbors who give a fig about their landscaping & did not appreciate the chickens rearranging it for them...
5ac for them to roam & they chose to cross the road!

Once a year I sweep out all the old bedding from the coop, spread Sevin dust & put down fresh bedding. I use pine shavings & occasionally add some in between major cleanouts.
Mostly I just use a catlitter scoop to keep the coop clean.

For the amount of amusement I get from the chickens, not to mention the wonderful eggs, it is well worth the little time it takes me to care for them.

 

[newchknmama]

Well Im new at it and sometimes my hubby thinks I got in over my head.. but we have 5 young children, I work about 30 hrs a week and go to school. I have 5 chicks on one brooder that are 6 weeks old and 2 littles in a smaller brooder and so far they take very little of my time. I let them out to play, I play with them a couple times a day, change feed and water.. thats about it. I imagine with them outside it will be even a little easier.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Caring for just a few chickens takes less time than a cat, aquarium or any other type of pet or livestock. I think they really are the easiest to care for of any of the species I've raised.

Where it gets really time consuming is when people have huge flocks or many different flocks housed separately or get into breeding. Then it gets into the difference between having one dog and having twenty dogs. Only with chickens, it's the difference between having four and having fifty, a hundred or more.

 

[Snegurochka]

Chickens are super quick and easy to take care of. The only thing that takes a lot of time is injuries, but that's a rarity. I have always used the deep litter method. I only have to clean out the litter once or maybe twice a year, depending on if it gets wet. I use Stall Dry in the litter, especially around the door way, waterers, pop door, and under the roosts, where the most water will get tracked in. I only add this once a month or so, in small quantities. Every few days I throw around cracked corn or scratch grains, which encourages the hens to scratch around and mix up the litter themselves. As long as I don't leave the door open during rain storms, I rarely have trouble with moisture.

For feeding, I keep a hopper on the chicken house wall that holds 50# of feed, and for 8 chickens I only have to refill it about every 3 weeks. It is very quick to fill a bucket and dump it into the feeder. I have a second hopper for the scratch grains. In the winter I use a gallon heated dog bowl and carry a milk jug of water out to the hen house with me, so that I don't have to make more than one trip.

As far as spending time with them goes, if you sit with them for a few minutes and feed them chickweed or treats, that should be enough time for you to notice if anything is wrong with one of the girls. You'll want to spend more time with them though.

Raising the chicks is a lot more labor intensive, since you have to change the paper towels, but you can still get it done in less than 15 minutes a day.

 

[BillickChix]

I have 9 hens who bring me so much joy. The more time you spend with them, the sweeter they are and the more bonded they will become to you. Nothing's more magical than getting those first eggs (and I still think it is magical...

The time I spend on my chickens is leisurely and not necessary to their survival, and I would even say that raising chickens is a little addicting. I hang out with them for about two hours a day despite the other stuff we have going on.

My husband and I were married in our backyard on the lake (we lived together for 5 years beforehand), and on the spot we were married, he built me a coop and run using our monetary gifts from the wedding. So the chicken lives we are sustaining are in turn feeding us (eggs only), and this is because of our loved ones, who sat on the spot where our chickens live as we pledged our devotion to one another.

I hope you get your chickens soon. Four seems like a great number if your husband is concerned about other projects. You could easily handle four of them without him having to do a thing I'm sure - I have muscular dystrophy and have pain and issues with strength and I take care of my chickens without help. Just make sure you do a ton of research on breeds and temperament. I learned the hard way about roosters; I thought that if I got the most docile breeds that the roosters' temperaments would be automatically docile as well, but I ended up not willing to deal with them due to my muscular dystrophy (after getting attacked on my leg that cannot handle wounds) and I gave them away. (They are much happier now as free-range studs!) Keeping yourself well-informed is the best thing to do. This forum is perfect for any questions you may have.

What breed of chicken were you thinking of getting? I am absolutely in love with my Orpingtons!