How long does it take you???

[TanksHill]

So I was talking with NCL about how long it takes her to tend her animal and do her animal stuff/ chores/ feeding etc..

That got me thinking about The Have More Plan and how they talk about planning the homestead and locating your barns.

Now in the old days people lived with their animals. I am sure that made tending them in bad weather much easier but that seems a bit close for me.

So how far is your barn/ Animal housing from you house?

How long does it take you to tend your animals and how many do you have? Obviously more animals takes more time.

I also know there will be the routine, a couple times a year stuff, but this is an average daily timing question.

Thanks, gina

 

[Wildsky]

Our barn and coop are less than 100 yards away from the garage.

We have a horse and goat, and 15 chickens, 6 ducks, 6 guinea's, a dog and a cat.

Winter takes longer, as we have to haul water with buckets, its a real pain in the rear.

I don't keep water in the coop - since getting ducks, they just make a HUGE mess, so water is outside in big tubs (big enough the ducks can take a dip) I have two of those, a huge horse water trough, and a smaller horse water bucket in the barn (heated for winter)

Our chores consist of opening the chickens in the morning, my son does that and it takes 5 minutes.
Evening chores are feeding and filling water, cleaning up poop and things like that. Between my hubby and I it takes about 45minutes or so every day.

 

[BeccaOH]

I'm currently on poultry overload, which is taking me 30 minutes in the morning to open doors, throw scratch, and refill water and food mainly in the brooders. At night I'm doing 1.5 hours of just general care on all the poultry, rabbits, and dogs. That's 2 hours. But it all the hatchlings doing it to me. I was getting most all of it done in no more than one hour a day during winter with less pens and all adults animals.

With spring here I need that extra daylight to do the mowing and gardening and so forth. I'm trying to sell off all extra poultry this weekend, but the incubator is still full.

If I were just doing this to be SS with some poultry for meat and eggs, I'd have one coop and one waterfowl pen (maybe a breeding pair of meat rabbits), which would be fairly easy to maintain. Somehow I think I need to do this for hobby, profit, and breed preservation. I have only myself to blame. But often I blame QA too.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

About two & a half hours all told at the moment, for 8 adult rabbits, 46 chickens, 2 cats & 2 goats on hand. DH does the garden watering, I mainly putter in the food plots, little of this, little of that.

My milking stand is right outside the back door, the goat shed is about 15 yards away and the chicken coop/feed storage will be located about 25 yards away when we ever get the dang thing moved. Its been in process for several months already, I'm about ready to tear the thing down & move it by hand
Everything is close by when you're on 2.5 acres

 

[Bettacreek]

Hmm. My animals are all up against the house or inside the house. I only have rabbits and birds though, lol. My brooders are inside and older birds and the rabbits are outside.
Chores, actual labor, probably would take about half an hour to forty-five minutes per day. I spend a lot more time on them than what I really NEED to, I just enjoy them as my hobby. I made pens and such in a way that would minimize chore-load and maximize production and fun.

 

[patandchickens]

My horses are probably 150-200 ft from the house, definitely wish they were closer. (I didn't build all this stuff, though, it was there when we bought it). For the horses, who live out 24/7 year-round and are MUCH the healthier for it, I spend a total of maybe 5 min per day during fly season in the summer, just a quick eyeball check and refill water tub as needed during the non-fly part of the growing season. During the *worst* of the winter, when they're being hayed 3-4x/day and shed needs cleaning, it is usually more like 45 minutes total. I *loathe* trudging out there through knee-deep snow into a howling freezing headwind three or more times per day.

The chickens are in a former kennel bldg maybe 60-80 ft from the house, which to me is about right, could be a *tad* closer except for our topography/drainage patterns. How much time I spend on them depends on time of year and how many different pens there are. (Number of different pens matters MUCH more than number of chickens per se). I am currently up to probably 10-15 min per day, for 3 regular pens plus 2 chick or poult pens plus a brooder in the basement. When it's only 2-3 regular pens and no younguns or isolation, though, it's more like 5-10 min/day, if that.

The sheep are a significant time sink at the moment, but that's because a) I am still figuring things out and b) I have not got them in their permanent destination so things aren't set up optimally. I am probably spending 10-15 min a day in necessary sheep chores, plus emergencies, plus a LOT of time just hangin' out with them

The biggest fault of my setup is that the poultry/sheep bldg currently has no functional water supply, so I have to hand-haul water for 5 sheep and two dozen chickens/turkeys and a bunch of chicks/poults. From the barn or house. Which gets really old. Am currently harvesting roofwater, but that only helps when it rains.

IMO part of efficiency is how your facilities are set up, but a usually-overlooked part of it is how your MANAGEMENT APPROACH is set up. My having the horses live out fulltime and using deep-litter and droppings boards for the chickens is NOT due to a desire to save time, it's because I truly think that's what's best for them... however it also just HAPPENS that these things are major time and labor savers

JME,

Pat

Pat

 

[Wifezilla]

10-15 minutes/day. That doesn't count me standing around talking to the ducks and telling them they are cute or hand feeding my white quail Cricket (she is really tame and a bit spoiled).

 

[Farmfresh]

At this time of the year my animal chores take MAYBE 10 minutes a day. I have currently 3 hens, 5 turkey poults and 12 baby chicks. I also have 2 big spoiled dogs, who take up most of that time.

Everything is within 40 feet of my back door - cause that is all there is!

In the morning I fill hen water if needed, and pull open their coop door. I fill chick feed and water and give them a quick check. Then I water dogs.

At night I check feed and water again, gather eggs and push the door shut. Some evenings (nice weather) I let the hens out to forage in the yard and close them in their pen.

During the late summer and fall I add about 30 to 45 minutes a day to the schedule when I must also care for my broilers which I keep down the road a bit.

 

[TanksHill]

Wow, thank you all so much for the great responses.

One of my coops is about 50 yards from my house. The other is a bit further but much steeper terrain. Such a pain to get to. I just keep thinking about how much space does one really need?

The Have More Plan is based on one to two acres. Which is what I have now. But because of the slope of my hill about an acre is hard to access. Not impossible but hard.

I just keep rolling around the idea of what could I do on flat land? How close would the buildings be and where I wold locate the garden and orchard. Back to Basics has some really great information on this topic.

I a looking at few pieces of property I am interested in. Just trying to take stock of where the pond is located in proximity to the barn etc..

Thanks for your input.

gina

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I just keep rolling around the idea of what could I do on flat land?

hey Gina! i laughed when i read this.. our property is on a hill also. when we first got it someone said "wow living on a hill is gonna suck"...and we thought "wow what a mean thing to say"

flash forward

me: dang! who was the stupid head who bought this property on a hill
he: yeah who DID this?!?!
*both slide down the hill into the mud*
together: whooooaaaaa!
dog1 to dog2: when are they gonna learn?

i'll sign up for about 3 hrs after we get the pigs and we are in the full swing of things. its about 1.5hrs morning and night and sometimes a few mins in between. but thats milking 3 goats.

we keep everyone close not only because you save steps....and because of where the buildings already were... but because we can hear if there are shenanigans going on out there. we especially like to keep the most-valuable-turkeys close in case they are attacked.

also - our winters are pretty tough here and there is no way i'm walking too far in the cold.

good luck with your planning!