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Time & Effort Requirements for Raising Backyard Chickens

by Jamelyn

Exactly how much time and effort are required for raising backyard chickens? This is probably a question that I should have thought about a bit more before I jumped in head first and got my flock of 10 chickens.

Chickens require care every day, usually multiple times a day. Depending on your routine, this can take up to an hour every day. A chicken keeper will need to open the coop in the morning and close the coop every night. Chickens need fresh water every day and access to food throughout the day.

Keep reading to find out how much work it takes to raise backyard chickens and how often you need to tend to them.

Morning Routine

My morning routine with my chickens is probably the most time consuming part of the day when it comes to raising backyard chickens. This is when I do the majority of my status checks with them, mostly because it’s the coolest part of the day in West Texas. However, some mornings I just don’t have time to do everything and have to make up for it later in the day.

Every morning shortly after the sun has come up, I go outside to let the chickens out of the coop. The chickens usually let me know when it’s time because I will hear them making noises. The later in the morning I go let them out, the more squawking I will hear.

Before I open the coop door, I like to refill their water since I know it’s one of the first things the chickens will go to directly after they are let out of the coop. They have a waterer inside their coop, but the water in the plastic bin is their favorite. It’s easier to refill the water when I don’t have them running around and trying to escape the run while the door is open.

I will also get their feeder from the garage and add some fresh feed on top. This hangs from a rope and carabiner from their run and I like to have this set-up before I let them out.

Once their food and water is in place, I’ll open the coop door and let the chickens rush the door at once, crawling over each other, and hopping out as fast as they can. In the mornings, they don’t even bother walking down the ramp; they’re ready to get their day started!

The chickens are stretching and getting some water after being let out of the coop in the morning.

When the weather is not super hot, I like to have a cup of scratch ready to feed the chickens. There is one in particular that has to eat some scratch out of my hand before she can get on with her morning and it always makes me smile. (Chickens have personalities and each one is different.)

As the chickens are milling about at my feet, I will count to make sure all 10 are out of the coop. I check them for any changes in appearance or behavior. For example, I have one chicken who has been bullied recently and has lost some of her feathers on her back. I have been checking her back feathers specifically every day to see if there is more feather loss or if they’re growing back. I’ll also listen for any sneezing or any unusual sounds that they might be making.

After I’ve given them scratch and pets on the back, I’ll leave the run and go check the inside of the coop while they are busy scratching the ground. I’ll do a quick check of the coop to make sure I don’t see any signs of a predator attempting to gain entry the previous night. If you put up your birds at 8:00 PM and let them out at 7:00 AM, that gives a predator 11 hours to try to gain entry to the chicken coop.

The last thing I’ll check, if I have time in the morning, is the nesting box. If I collected all the eggs from the day before, then this check is not really needed in the morning. Sometimes our schedule gets crazy and if I know I didn’t collect eggs and I’m not sure if Steven did, then I like to check the nesting boxes. Eggs that are left in the nesting boxes for too long can cause issues (see this article).

This process can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.

Evening Routine

The evening routine is essentially the reverse of the morning routine, with one major exception: the chickens do not all hurriedly hop back into their coop.

The chickens will wait until it starts to get dark before they go back inside their coop. During the winter, they go in earlier. During the summer, they go in later. You can’t really rush this process because it’s natural instinct for chickens to do a last rush of foraging before they go to roost. The food will be stored in their crop and their bodies will digest the food at night, while they are safely sleeping on their perches. The chickens ancestor, the Jungle Fowl, would do the same thing. They would forage before bedtime and then digest their food when they were safely up in a tree at night.

After the chickens are in their coop, I will count to make sure all 10 are safely inside and then shut all the doors. I leave open the windows to allow for ventilation (the #1 most important aspect of a chicken coop is ventilation). I will put up any food that is in their run to keep out pests and rodents that are looking for a easy meal during the night. If their waterer is not inside their enclosed run, then I will either move it to inside the run or empty it. I don’t want any other animals drinking from their water at night.

The chickens are getting situated on the roosting bars at bedtime. They all like to sleep on the top bar.

If the chickens are already in their coop by the time I go outside to do the evening routine, then it will take about 5 minutes to do this process. However, if the chickens are still out running around because it’s not quite dark enough, it can take about 30 minutes to put them up.

Inclement Weather

You will need to provide additional attention to your chickens during inclement weather.

Prior to heavy rain or thunderstorms, I put place the food in the covered part of the run so that it won’t get wet. When chicken feed gets wet, it will go mold quickly and is not healthy for the chickens to eat. I make sure the chickens have access to water either inside their coop or the covered part of their run so they can drink without having to get wet in the rain.

During the summer, I make sure their food is not in the coop so they will be forced to go outside to eat. I didn’t realize it at first, but during the day the chickens would not be in their run. One day I opened the door to the coop and they were all inside eating from their feeder. After that day, I started hanging their food in the run so that they would not be congregating in the coop.

Always make sure your chickens have access to fresh, cool water, but especially check their water during hot weather. The optimal temperature for a chicken’s good health is between 70 and 75 degrees F. As the temperature rises above this optimal level, the chickens can start to experience symptoms of being too warm, eventually leading to heat stress or death.

My chickens start to pant when the temperatures are between 85 and 90 degrees F. This is when I will change their water in the morning and then again either at lunch or after work. Adding ice cubes to the chickens water is nice too. When my chickens were young, I would set out ice on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket and my chickens would just stand on the ice cubes.

The chickens are panting in the hot summer heat in Texas.

High humidity is another issue for chickens and their health. Hot dry heat is easier on a chicken than a lower temperature but very high humidity. Keep an eye out for signs of a chicken being too hot or experiencing water deprivation. These signs can include a change in color and texture of the comb and wattle, very loose droppings, panting, and lethargic activity. If your chicken experiences any these symptoms, immediate action should be taken to cool the chicken. Place them in a pool of cool water to cool off their legs. Give them an electrolyte solution for chickens or a cold watermelon. Turn on a fan and make sure they are getting a breeze. I try to check on my chickens from a distance because the moment they see me they will jump up and come running. I don’t want them to be exerting energy like this during the hottest parts of the day.

The chickens were so happy to get a chilled watermelon! It’s their favorite treat during the summer.

When the weather is hot outside, it will be super hot in the coop. I have a thermometer hanging from the ceiling of my chicken coop so that I know exactly what temperature it is inside the coop. Check the coop for ventilation and open all the doors and windows that you can. We have a fan blowing air inside the screen door of the coop during the summer.

Cold weather is not something that I typically have to deal with in Texas but I do know that chickens handle cold much better than they do heat. When chickens are fully grown, their feather provide them with warmth when they are fluffed up. Chickens will snuggle with each other to maintain warmth when they are cold.

If there is a bitterly cold wind, the windows should be mostly closed, leaving only enough of a crack to allow for ventilation inside the coop. If the windows inside the coop are fogged up, they don’t have enough ventilation. Check your chickens for signs of frostbite on their combs or wattles. Also, check for signs of dehydration (similar to the symptoms when it’s very hot outside). During the winter, water can freeze and the chickens can become dehydrated. As always, make sure the chickens have water to drink during very cold weather.

Unusual Squawking

Chickens can be very noisy animals. Everyone knows that rooster make noise, but hens can be just as noisy. For instance, some hens will sing an “egg song” before or after they have laid an egg. When other chickens hear this song, they will sometimes join the chorus.

When I hear my chickens doing squawking, I will listen to see if they are doing their “egg song” or some other call. If it sounds like a distress call or a sound I haven’t heard before, I will go outside to assess the situation. I check for signs of a nearby predator or anything unusual in the coop.

Sometimes chickens will bicker with each other which can cause quite a commotion. When there is usual squawking, I will check to make sure that a bully isn’t attacking a more submissive chicken who’s lower on the pecking order. Bullying is generally a symptom of boredom or lack of space, both of which can be remedied once you have been made aware that they are issues.

Last night Steven and I were outside in the front yard when we heard the worst squawking we’ve ever heard. We ran to the backyard to see what was going on. One chicken was squawking very loudly and everyone else was just standing around watching her. We could not figure out what was going on but eventually came the to assumption that the grass weeds I gave them as a snack must have gotten caught funny in her throat.

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2 comments

Best Number of Chickens for Beginners – Backyard Dino June 18, 2021 - 1:45 PM

[…] wrote a post about the time and effort required to raise backyard chickens where I explained these things in […]

Types of Chicken Coops and Which One is Best for You – Backyard Dino July 5, 2021 - 6:12 AM

[…] A coop that is raised off the ground won’t have as many issues, just make sure the solid flooring is sturdy and there are no holes for a predator to reach in and grab your chickens. My husband’s co-worker also raises chickens and a raccoon was able to reach its paw through the coop one night and tore up some of their chickens. Thankfully they all survived, but it’s important to regularly check that there are no holes in the coop (I normally do this check during my morning routine). […]

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