5 Chicken Chore Cheats
How to spend more time with your flock and less time doing chores!
Regardless of why you started keeping chickens, nobody wants to spend more time on chicken chores than with their flock. Use these cheats to get chores done faster so you can spend more time with your flock!
#1: Automatic Coop Door
An automatic coop door will open and close at the time you specify, eliminating the need for someone to let them in or out at sunrise and sunset. This saves you time and ensures your hens are never trapped in or out of the coop. Automatic doors these days even have light sensors so you don’t have to adjust the time, it does that on its own!
#2: Larger Waterers/Feeders
When you first started, you only had three chickens, so your one gallon feeder was plenty big enough. That was ten chickens ago... It’s important to make sure that your feeder and waterer are proportional to the size of your flock. Not only does it eliminate unnecessary trips to the coop, but it ensures your hens have constant access to the basic necessities. Go get that 10 gallon waterer you’ve had your eye on!
#3: Elevate your Waterer
Chickens kick a lot of dirt around. If you put your waterer on the ground, it will inevitably get whatever litter you use gunking it up. The more gunk gets in the water, the more often you have to change it. However, if you lift the waterer off the ground, it’s much harder for it to get gunky. If you have a bucket waterer, a few bricks or cinder blocks will do the trick or you can invest in a hanging nipple waterer. Just keep in mind that hanging waterers can only get so big due to weight, so you may need more than one.
#4: Seating in the Run
It’s a lot easier to interact with your flock if you have somewhere to sit. If you aren’t able to free range your flock, or if you want to avoid the hassle of rounding up your chooks, a place for YOU to sit in the coop or run does wonders. you’ll naturally spend more time there and it will be easier for your flock to interact with you. Win win!
#5: Coop Cleaning Services
A chicken coop cleaning service can take the most time consuming and least fun chore off your hands. A coop cleaning service will ensure that your coop gets cleaned consistently and thoroughly, regardless of what litter you’re using or if you’re on vacation. That gives you back countless hours to spend with your flock and reduces your exposure to bacteria. Both you and your flock will be happier and healthier for it!
