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Why Raising Chickens Is Much Easier Than You Think!

Raising chickens

Did you ever want to get chickens but thought it was too much trouble? Did the thought of housing them, feeding them, and cleaning the coop put you off!?
There is no denying that some work is attached to keeping chickens, but it’s nowhere near as bad as you think!
Once you have your coop set up and the ladies have moved in, you can begin to organize your routine.
Having a set routine will help you keep the chores under control and minimize time spent doing them, and can make raising chickens much easier.
Let’s take a look at the basics and how keeping chickens can be made even easier!

Raising Chickens

Hen Morning and Evening Routines

Most people are rushed in the morning- getting ready for work, getting the kids off to school, etc., so it’s likely that you don’t have much time to spend with the hens.
The morning chicken routine will consist of opening up the coop at daybreak, checking feed and water, and a little chicken talk with the girls- to save time, you can fill a plastic jar with the feed the night before and then empty this into their coop each morning.
Letting Chickens Out of Coop in Morning
The evening routine is much the same except for the egg collection! This is just about everyone’s favorite part of chicken keeping!
Collecting those freshly laid treasures is always fun.
Several of my friends will come home from work and go and spend a little time with the ladies. They say this is the best form of stress relief- I would agree!
That is the ‘bare minimum’ of caring for chickens. There are, of course, other tasks that need to be done every week at least. As with most things, the more chickens you have, the more consuming it can be.
Let’s take a walk through some of the things you can do to minimize your task list.

Opening and Closing the Coop

You need to open and close the coop every morning and night without fail. Otherwise, you may be providing free chicken dinners to the local predators!
Many people have an automatic ‘pop’ door, which opens and closes the coop door at a time preset by you. In addition, some models run on mains electric, battery, and solar power.
As long as your birds are safely in the coop when it shuts, it’s a great idea. All of the testimonials I have read about these devices are very complimentary.
Of course, if you are fairly handy, you could make something similar yourself.
You would have to decide whether or not it fits with you and your birds. It would not suit my needs, for instance, since I have to put some of the ladies to bed myself.

Raising Chickens

Feeding Your Hens

Feeding ChickensA hen can average ½-1 cup of food per day. So, depending on how many birds you have, it’s easy to get a large feeder that will be sufficient for a couple of days.
Inventive people have made tube feeders out of PVC piping. These feeders take up very little room and can be topped off without bending down or lifting the feeder.
If you have problems with your back or lifting and turning, this would be an excellent idea to use in your coop.
If you choose to use the store-bought hanging feeders, always buy large enough for two or three days of feed for the hens- this will cut down on your labor.
However, you should make sure that no feed is left on the ground at night as this will attract pests.

Egg Collection

Yes, you have to collect your chicken’s eggs.
As if you’re upset about that, right?
But if it’s not a top priority for you, uncollected eggs can pile up. You must collect your hens’ eggs at least once a day, if not twice, depending on how many chickens you have and how often they lay eggs.
The best thing you can do to make your life a tad easier is to collect twice a day, once you open the coop in the morning and once at night when you tuck your chickens in.
I won’t lie. It can be stressful to collect a ton of eggs at once and ensure none of them break.
So when you do collect, use fun collection aids, like aprons, baskets, or tubs. Make the experience fun and easier for yourself. And don’t forget to enjoy your eggs!

Chicken Drinkers

Fresh, clean water is a must for your birds. Dehydration in hens will stop them from laying eggs for a period of time.
A hen can drink around a pint/day, more in hot weather. There will also be some spillage from hens bumping into the hanging drinker.
If you are a plumbing whizz, you could set up a water system with PVC pipe, chicken nipples, and a flotation shut-off. This would ensure a continuous supply of water.
Such an item already exists and can be bought at your local feed store. However, I’m not sure that this would function very well in cold temperatures.
The biggest drawback to leaving water for several days is that it may become ‘slimy’ and start growing bacteria. An easy solution to this is to add apple cider vinegar to the water. The ratio is 1 tablespoon/gallon.
apple cider vinegar

Chicken Droppings

More colloquially known as poop! Chickens do a lot of this, especially when they are roosting at night.
What can you do about this? Well- you can’t stop them from pooping, so you have to make the removal of this by-product as easy as possible.
Most people use a ‘droppings board.’ This can be anything from wood, mesh, or plastic trays.
The idea is to catch the poop on a removal tray. You can then empty the tray as frequently as you need to.
Everyone has a different idea of what to use. I used old industrial baking sheets. They are durable, won’t bend or break, and can be hosed down easily.
chicken poop trays
The area around the trays can get mucky too, so I clean it up and sprinkle it with insecticidal powder.

Raising Chickens

Easy Chicken Bedding

Straw, shavings, shredded paper… there are many types of bedding for chickens. It really boils down to personal preference and cost.
Straw is the cheapest but can be messy to clean up. However, if you have allergies, this is probably not a good choice for you.
The easiest choice is pine shavings. They are very nice to work with, and if you have a small coop, they are reasonably cost-effective.
They are also easy to shovel up with a dustpan and brush, making them a good fit for easy clean-up.
Shredded paper is very environmentally friendly. However, I have found that it is not very absorbent, sticks to the eggs, and is generally a bit of a pain to deal with.
Some opt to use the deep litter method for bedding their chickens, especially in the winter. This is a way to help keep the coop insulated and cut back on coop cleaning.
The deep litter methods combine chicken waste and bedding materials and create a composted base over time. Basically, more bedding is continuously added for a set amount of time, and then everything is cleaned all at once.
The composted litter can be used as fertilizer in gardens and for landscaping.
And as a bonus to the chickens, the deep litter provides insulation from the frozen ground during the cold winter months. (and maybe even a little natural heat).

Exercise

The hens- not you! If you have an extended run attached to the coop, that is great. However, if there is only a tiny area with the coop, it would be nice for the ladies to stretch their legs once in a while.
You can provide them with all manner of things to keep them busy– perches at different heights, chicken swing, old logs to peck at, treat dispensers, etc.
The idea is to keep them physically and mentally active. Like humans, if birds have a sedentary lifestyle, they will tend towards obesity- not healthy!
DIY Chicken Swing
We have discussed in previous blogs how bored chickens can have some very anti-social habits, so you need to keep them busy.
The key point to remember is that once you have set their exercise park up, you can leave them to it!

Seasonal Stuff

Twice a year, you should do a major clean of your coop. This really can’t be avoided. It consists of tossing out the old bedding and spraying down the floor and walls with a disinfectant.
Once it has dried, you may put down new bedding and nesting materials.
If you have a flock of six chickens, this really shouldn’t take too much of your time- a morning at most.
If you employ some or all of these labor-saving devices and ideas, the amount of time your chickens require for actual care is minimal- they are incredibly hardy and don’t really need much human involvement.
The humble hen doesn’t need yearly visits to the veterinarians’ office.

My ‘Easy’ Chicken Routine

My flock is around thirty birds. Our routine is to let them out to pasture around daybreak, then go back to bed for a couple of hours!
When I visit with them later in the morning, it’s time to top up water and see how they are doing that day and collect any eggs.
I will visit again in the later afternoon to collect more eggs, have a chat with the girls, check on feeders, etc.
They are all either roosted or waiting for me to come and put them to bed at sundown! So this evening, a check is a headcount and locking the coops up securely.
Each of these visits can be ten minutes in duration. So it really isn’t time-consuming!

Summary

As you can see, when broken down piece by piece, the amount of time and energy your birds will ask of you is minimal.
You can spend as little time or as much time as your day affords you. I prefer to spend as much time as I can with the ladies. It helps with bonding.
The more familiar the hens are with you, the tamer they will become, so if you want tame, touchable birds- hang out with them a lot!
Let us know in the comments below how much time you spend with your hens…
Read Happy New Year. Happy New Chicks?

Raising Chickens

11 thoughts on “Why Raising Chickens Is Much Easier Than You Think!

  1. Thank you for this info. I’m contemplating getting a few chickens so I’m reading all I can before I do & mapping out the best location in my yard .

      1. I’m afraid my chickens live a more primitive life. The coop is tin roof and sides with a dirt floor. The attached pen is also covered with wire on the top as they can’t free range or they would be a chicken dinner.

  2. Loving this site I’m also looking at getting 3/4 chickens my only worry is if I go away for 2 or 3 days occasionally. Can I leave them in there enclosure for that long I haven’t purchased a coop yet but I will be setting a watering system up for the water. There is also a pesky cat next door that I worry about however everything I have read so far suggests this won’t be a problem if I get older chickens. I have a young family and would love to encourage them to help with the daily chores. I’m looking to buy a flat pack coop is there anything I should look our for.

    1. Hi Scott,
      Well done on starting the journey of chicken keeping and I’m sure you will love it!
      I wouldn’t recommend leaving them for 3 days unattended but there are things you can do if you aren’t going to be there- automatic door opener, water system and pellet dispenser. The biggest issue will be not collecting the eggs.
      It would be much better if you know someone local who can pop over even for 10 minutes a day to check on them and collect the eggs…
      Claire

  3. I actually have a friend who comes once a week with snacks and sits in the run to spend time with them and decompress. She calls it her meditation. And it is.

  4. I’m interested in starting with just six hen’s for healthy eggs. Any tips would be appreciated! With the farmers market closed how could I go about locating a few hen’s and a rooster?

    1. I got on line and found several local ( within 100 miles) that sell chicks and adult birds. I compared the various places and the type of chicks I wanted and I drove over and picked up 10 chicks. As they grew, I culled down to 6 hens and 1 rooster. Now I am waiting for the eggs to come next spring. I build a large caged area and divided in half. One side for chickens and one side for Bob White Quail.

  5. We just started a backyard flock with 7 hens this summer. We’ve found everything in this article to be true. The girls are easy to care for and are fun to watch. My 14 year old daughter has taken them under her wing and provides most of the care, feeding and cleaning. I love that we can give them kitchen scraps. The girls are very friendly, too, and we can hold and pet them. We live in Michigan and winter brings snow. I’m interested to see how cold-hardy our flock will be and how their care is impacted.

  6. when is or how to inter new poullets to the hen house we have hatched 6 chicks and they are about 12 weeks old and we want to put them in with the others . is there a way to do it or just put them in …. We have been getting emails for a while but we haven’t been at this very long and are still learning ,,,, Thanks for all the information so far
    Barry Clarke

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