Daily Chicken Schedule

[lovingmyhens]

First I sleep though 3 alarm clocks till I have to get up.
I usually wake up at 8-9 and let them out. I toss some scratch grains out into their free range area. Then make sure they have food and water. Then do school till noon. After school I go out and visit them. Also many other times I go out by them. At least 5-6 times since I am mostly at home. Around 6-6:30 I collect eggs and lock them up for the night. (They are just locked up into their coop/run area)
My feeder is an automatic non spill so I only fill it every month. Their water I rinse in the morning.
And there you have it folks!

 

[AnimalGeek23]

How many do you plan to get? That has a big effect on how much time you need to care for them.
It’s exponential I suppose.

I have just a handful of chickens.
Their care only takes me 5 minutes in the morning, two in the afternoon and five in the evening.
Plus 30 minutes once a week for a total coop clean out and run raking.

*this of course is only working time, it doesn’t include time I like to spend just being with them.

I’ve got a system and could do it in my sleep.

I’ll have a small flock of 3

 

[staceyj]

I’ll have a small flock of 3

That’s great!
You should be able to accomplish everything by just getting up 5 or 10 minutes earlier and still have time to eat breakfast!

 

[AnimalGeek23]

 

[DaWookie]

overall chickens are very low effort, they have zero sense of independence. They want to be in a safe, controlled environment. I thought one of my easter eggers was a real rebel until the day he got out of the yard. I walked up to him expecting a chase, but he literally jumped into my hands.

 

[AnimalGeek23]

overall chickens are very low effort, they have zero sense of independence. They want to be in a safe, controlled environment. I thought one of my easter eggers was a real rebel until the day he got out of the yard. I walked up to him expecting a chase, but he literally jumped into my hands.

I was expecting a lot of work from them!

 

[DaWookie]

the work is in getting the coop and run secure. If you have that done, chickens can be less then 10 minutes of your day.

 

[Amatsuhono]

I split chicken chores between morning and evening. I have 12 SLW, and each morning and evening I check that they have feed and water, fill them whenever they get low, and toss them some greens every morning (once our big coop is finished this will all probably be different). I clean the coop once a week (typically Saturday) and spot clean in the evening as needed. It takes like 5-10 minutes, because we set up everything in the coop and feed room to be convenient. Having things prepared in advance makes all the difference when you have any kind of time crunch, and that way if I want to spend time in the coop in the morning with my girls, I don't have to rush to not be late for work.

 

[Mosey2003]

My chickens live around my work schedule.

They get let out of the coop and fed at 6:30am. I pick up eggs and check them over at 3:30pm. The pop door gets closed at dark when they're on the roost, so that varies by season. Nowadays, that's approaching 5pm. In the summer, closer to 9pm.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have an auto door since 2015, so I don't hit the coop until 2-3 in the afternoon to collect eggs & check feed. I do look out to make sure they are out of the coop. They have food & water 24/7 in the coop. I get water at least every 2 days. I throw a cup of scratch every afternoon when I collect the eggs. I have 13 chickens presently. I go out every evening at dusk to make sure the door is closed & to close my other coop with the guineas. Takes maybe 10 minutes a day.