Things That I Do To Streamline Daily Chicken Care

Daily, proactive maintenance of your flock and your backyard chicken areas is essential to keeping happy and healthy chickens. We are all balancing many responsibilities in addition to caring for our birds. Here are some of the systems I have developed over the past 2 years of owning backyard chickens that help me keep my flock safe, productive, and happy.

1) Smaller daily cleans make bigger seasonal cleans easier. Although I save my thorough and more involved cleanings for the seasonal changes I do small cleaning tasks to maintain my coop and run on a daily basis. I remove dropping from perches, roost poles, and boxes daily. I remove any treats from the run daily to avoid attracting vermin. I will do spot removal and refreshing of bedding in any heavily soiled areas. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes but ensures that larger, seasonal cleans go more smoothly. This also helps keep my birds healthy and their area pleasant to be in.

2) I keep my coop cleaning tools in my coop. If this isn’t practical for you, find a way to store them close by in a tool box or a weather proof tote. Keeping my cleaning tools as closes as possible to the area where I use them everyday saves me steps.

3) When I go outside to care for my chickens, I have topical remedies and cleaning bottles with me. In my dedicated basket of chicken accessories I keep extra egg cartons, my topical chicken medicines like Hen Healer Ointment and Vet RX, and my pre-mixed bottle of Bronner’s soap, scrub brush, and a clean dish towel. That way, if I see a problem with one of my chicken’s that needs addressed or a mess that needs extra TLC I don’t have to make an extra trip. Those items are always within reach! I use a basket but you could use any kind of supply container that works for you, a tote bag or something similar would also work great. The key being your most essential chicken supplies are in one place and you can easily transport them inside and outside.

4) I use automated dispensers for water, food, and grit/oyster shell supplement. I have been using these since we first got our flock and they have been great. They do need to be cleaned on a regular basis, especially the water dispensers, but they work great and my chickens have never had any issues using them. I have multiply feeders adjusted at various heights because I have both full size birds and bantams. There are many designs and DIY instructions available online. You may have to do some research to find the feeder design that best fits your flock but it is well worth it.

5) I do my chores as close to a consistent time as possible. I utilize my chicken’s daily needs to provide my day with structure and while it may adjust slightly with the seasons, I do my best to do my chicken chores around the same time daily. This also helps acclimate my chickens to my routine so they don’t find my presence startling at all and I can move around their areas without disturbing them.

6) I embrace the give and take of being a chicken owner. They take care of me and my family and I take care of them! Attitude is so important when it comes to traversing challenges and daily chores can be challenging especially in undesirable weather but I know it is for a great purpose. I love my backyard chickens and I know in order for them to be healthy and thrive I have to do my part to maintain a safe environment for them. It is always worth it!

7) I have an emergency chicken care back up plan. Most of my chicken systems could go 24-48 hours unattended if there was an emergency and I was unable to care for them for a few days. I have also showed my family my routine so they could maintain it in my absence. Consider showing a friend or neighbor your routine in case of emergency so your birds can be cared for your absence. Hopefully you will never need this assistance but it’s good to be proactive.

I hope this was helpful! Thank you for taking the time to learn about our flock and hopefully some of this information will prove useful to you and your chickens!