Am wondering about how much time on a daily basis you all spend on caring for your chickens, esp those with smaller flocks, say 6 or 8 chickens. What would be my daily routine, my weekly routine, monthly, etc.?
Thanks,
Gwen
Chicken Care
They don't really take much time daily. Just make sure they have clean water, and food, and they're good to go. Then every so often, their pen and nesting boxes have to be cleaned, but that's not a really big deal either. If you keep plenty of straw or bedding on the floor of the boxes or chicken house, you can just rake it out, and put in new. They're easy.
Yup, sh'es right. But hanging with the girls and giving them treats is a true pleasure when it is nice out. If they learn you are the treat person, they will come right over when you call to them.
In the winter I just throw more shavings on top of the old dirty ones and don't clean them out until spring. Where we are, it just provides more insulation, which is important.
So each morning I open the coop up, give fresh water and check the food to make sure that they have enough. If not, I put a few scoops in. I usually throw some bread or an apple, or whatever is in the fridge in, too. I collect eggs.
At night, they all go back in the coop, and I close it up. That's it!
My 7 and 6 year olds do the chicken chores every morning. They bring yesterday's kitchen scraps and leftovers out to the chicken yard, and give the girls a large scoop of layer ration. They also each carry a gallon jug of water (the coop's some distance from the house) and dump out the old water/ice before pouring the new. In the afternoon, someone goes to get the eggs and check on the feed/water. That's about it.
This is all for mature birds. Baby chicks need extra care, warmth etc. Sometimes the very young ones need a little more attention, as they tend to get themselves into some silly situations.
. But once you have a flock established, it's easy.
Peggie, I should have specified adults - of course babies would need more care! We have an Aga, which is always on and is somewhat warm if you're right in front of it and I was thinking (hoping) I could keep the babies in a box or crate in front of the Aga until they're old enough to go outside. I guess I'd have to find out what temp chicks need to make sure it wasn't too warm or not warm enough. But it seemed like a good solution to the heat thing.
Gwen
I assumed you meant adults, ..............but then I thought, "oh dear !, what if you didn't and I just assumed. LOL, glad it's all clear now.
By-the-way, what's an Aga ? Ya got me on that one.
An Aga is a cooker from England that's on all the time. It's made from cast iron so it retains heat very efficiently. It's warm to the touch on the outside and gives off a very gentle heat. (Dogs and cats love to lay in front of it.)
Besides being great to cook on, they do other things, drying socks being one of those other things.
Gwen
swooooon...that Aga is gorgeous
Oh my goodness ! That is absolutely awesome ! I've never seen anything like that !
We need a whole new thread just for that, I'd like to know all about it, as I imagine a lot of others would too. Wow !
I'll work on a new thread on it!
Gwen