Backyard Chickens--How much time does it take? (grown, city, pets)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm putting this in the gardening forum because I'm not sure where it should go.
Can anyone tell me how much time it takes to care for 4-6 chickens in the backyard, once they're grown and established? I want to get some and my husband will build a chicken tractor, but I'm just afraid I won't have enough time to properly care for them.
Mine, though, are free range, and other than giving them (and the ducks) food a couple of times a day, and trying to find the hidden nests, I don't put much effort into mine at all. And the only reason I feed them more than once a day is because I have so many and that way I'm ensuring that everybody gets a chance at the feed.
If you're going to use a tractor, you will need to move it around to avoid ending up with a muddy, poopy mess. Depending on the size of the tractor, I would think you could get by with only moving it every two or three days - again, a lot depends on the size of the tractor, as well as the size and the number of birds (bantams will require less space per bird than your big Buff Orpington).
Fill their feeder once a day (or less with a larger feeder), make sure they have water (especially important in the summer, of course), make sure they're protected from the weather, including making sure they have shade or some kind of cover in the summer, and gather those nice fresh eggs.....and enjoy.
One thing to remember, though, if you're thinking about letting them out to roam your yard on occasion, they can be pretty damaging to plants, especially young ones, by "dusting" themselves.
And like another poster suggested, be wary of neighborhood dogs or even roaming raccoons. I don't think 'possums are much of a problem with full grown birds but they will raid your nests and get the smaller birds if given a chance - but they're pretty lazy and opportunistic and tend to prefer cleaning up the messes left behind by other predators.
So, if you're willing to trade a few minutes a day to the care and upkeep of your birds in exchange for those wonderful eggs, I say "go for it!"
Thanks for the info. Our city recently passed a backyard chicken ordinance where you can have up to 7 or 8 hens. I really want to do it, but between work, exercise, keeping up with our teenager and all the other daily responsibilities I'm worried about having enough time. If it's just a matter of feeding and making sure they have water every day and then cleaning the coop, etc. on the weekends, I could manage that I think.
It's really important to have a secure enclosure for them whether you're in the suburbs or the country.
I miss having chickens but am reluctant to do so because I have 3 dogs of my own, often have several fosters and we have plenty of wild critters that also may go after them - too many friends have lost theirs to predators both wild and domestic.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
[/CENTER]
