What is your bedtime routine?

[stubbornhill]

Around 7:30-8:30pm we are heading in to the house to get supper ready and get our gear ready for work the next day. We go into the barn and the girls are all in there. The Leghorns usually in the hen house with the RIR sitting on the floor sleeping, one Wyandotte sleeping on the roosting pole in the run (in barn), and the Black Star Sexlink and the other Wyandotte jockeying for position on the fence rail. (again, inside the barn) The babys in their separate area are usually all on the roosting pole with three piled on the floor under them. They are pretty self sufficient: Big Girls. It is funny that one of our Wyandottes "Mouthy" will not roost for the night until everyone else has found their spot. When we first got them and they all piled into the hen house, she would make sure she slept in the doorway so no one could get in or out. That's her rountine not mine though!

 

[TNChick82]

LOL I thought I was the only crazy person doing this.

Between 8:30 & 9 I go out and see if they are lining up at the run door. I used to leave it open. But I have 2 hens that don't free range yet. Open run let them in and count as they go in. Gracie my Orpington Buff waits at my feet while all the others go in. I then pick her up and put her in the coop. Tell them all good night. Gracie normally runs out to greet me half way to the coop or when she hears me on the back porch. One night we went to a friends house and didn't make it home until 10. Went straight to the coop and counted all that was in the coop. Gracie was gone. Started yelling for my husband to bring me a flash light that she was gone. Then felt something brush my leg. It was Gracie waiting to be tucked in lol.

 

[harveyhorses]

I don't get home from work until 9:30 or 10. Run inside, switch shoes, grab the flashlight and go take a head count, pick up any eggs that were deposited after I left for work, tell them all goodnight and I love them, see you in the morning. Sometimes I'll tell them 'hey it's friday, free range all day tomorrow' and they cluck at me and go back to sleep. close and lock the door. sometimes.
My sister is not allowed to put them up anymore, she just closed the door and left three of them in the run. My coop is fully inside my run so they were not in danger, just highly offended that they got shut out.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

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WOW! Your routine is intense! My husband said, well, you must be retired! But nope, your post says you get home from work at 5:30. WOW!

 

[zowieyellowflame]

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Ha ha ha! Chickens have such personality!

 

[zowieyellowflame]

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Yup, they sound pretty safe! My husband laughs about my double doors and 2x4's propped up against the doors that are not double! I can't stand the thought of a predator getting my girls. My favorite hen, "red" spends a lot of time on the floor. She would be the first. I always check the human door twice.

 

[kuntrygirl]

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WOW! Your routine is intense! My husband said, well, you must be retired! But nope, your post says you get home from work at 5:30. WOW!

Yea, it's pretty intense but at the same time, I look forward to my routine. After a long day at work, walking around the chicken yard and feeding and watering is my stress reliever. Especially when there is a breeze blowing and birds are singing in the air and the turkeys are flying in the pecan trees.

And no, I'm not retired. I still have about 40 more years before I retire.

 

[sammyh312]

close to dark i grab a coupla beers and go sit by the run where i talk to em and toss em grapes, crickets...etc. then a last head count then put em to bed. i like it as much as they do!

 

[tclegg]

Well we are still in brooder--but I have to open and close blinds and such in the room they are in---so I go in and visit and give bedtime snacks--refresh and reclean water and refill food...do a head count (sometimes twice)...make sure brooder is all nice covered and secure then say " Nite-nite ladies- (insert kissy--kissy noises)

-sweet dreams mommy will see you in the morning...and as quietly as possible shut the door....All the while my DH and Jack Russell Dotti and 2 cats--Furball and Squeak are looking at me as if Iv'e lost my mind and are saying "get over it already--their just chickens!!!" LOL

 

[terrilhb]

kuntrygirl you have wore me out just by reading your schedule. Please reming me to never complain again. WOW is all I can say. You go girl.