How long does it take you???

[TanksHill]

Thanks OFG, when we bought our place is was all about the view and the potential. What I did not know is that you are not allowed to put leach lines in cut soil. So on the east side of our hill is our existing field. Then The reserve is on the north side.

That does not leave many options.

So for now I am concentrating on the orchard, coop and veggie garden. All doable.

but still dreaming of something different.

gina

 

[tortoise]

I have 4 breeding rabbits plus whatever babies. And 3 dogs.

Dogs are in the house and in the yard with underground fencing. They *can* be low maintenance, but I probably spend an hour every day letting them in and outside, feeding (this is actually a big production ), playing frisbee and training them.

The rabbit shed is about 50 feet across a boring flat lawn.

In winter when I ONLY do bare necessities (brrr!) I spend like 10 minutes tops per day (5 min am, 5 min pm) and once a week clean out rabbit cage pans - add another 10 minutes. I bring them inside to groom them in winter and I handle them very minimally

Spring, summer, fall I am out there A LOT. I take photos of the babies almost every day and update my rabbit blog, flickr, etsy, localharvest, craigslist, kijij, facebook pages.

Rabbit chores take 45 (+) minutes when the temp is above 50. Grooming, handling, futzing around with cages, pictures, cleaning, moving pens around the yard, collecting greens.

But it makes me happy.

 

[Wifezilla]

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

Same here!

 

[SKR8PN]

The dogs live in the house with us, but the back yard is fenced in so they can be out in nice weather. If you ask them though, I BEAT them every day and FORCE them to live outside 24/7. Oh ya, I also NEVER feed them.

(can you tell that I beat them every day?)


The chicken tractor is portable and the distance to the house varies........depending on WHERE I set them. I try to make it so they aren't more than 20-30 ft from the outside faucet.

The Beef, the Lamb and the Pork all live in the freezer.

 

[TanksHill]

You are a card skr8pn. Your dogs are so darn cute!!

 

[DawnSuiter]

The coops are all in a line.. the line starts about 15 paces off my front porch... so they are close... the line of coops extends about 50 feet and there is one coop on down the line separate in the front garden.

here's a current look at the chores...

AM
5 minutes - make coffee
check baby chicks in brooders, refill water & food
fill dog food bowls X 4, check dog water bowls & buckets
fill cat food bowls X 2 & check water fountain

then I have coffee, check emails and then continue

30-45 minutes
mix feed & dish it out for ALL POULTRY (except broilers, DD takes care of them) - 10 minutes
Pull out & connect hose, refill goose pool & any low chicken waterers, which are all 2 gallon buckets & water the gourds in front of the coops

break time

1.5 hours
watering, weeding & inspecting the gardens
picking strawberries .. I like to do this in the a.m. while the hose soaks the gardens nearby

break time - lunch time - laundry, vaccum, etc.. house chores

2 hours
misc rebuilding, new construction, repairs, etc. this would include digging gardens, installing fences, building patios etc.. you know how it is..

break time - computer work, emails

30-45 minutes
harvesting additional produce & washing it
collecting eggs (three times a week scraping poop boards)
watering again if there are seeds trying to sprout or a particularly long dry day

break time - shower & cool down.. this is usually around sunset

30-45 minutes plus cooking & cleaning dinner

and a final 10 minutes to check once again on ALL the animals making sure they are fine for the night and can make it until tomorrow.

then a few hours working on the computer if I can.. if I'm not already dead tired
OR
we have dinner & spend the evenings out with the outdoor fireplace, hot tub & watching movies on our LCD projector outside.

I guess I do a LOT of chores compared to the other lists I've seen....

 

[justusnak]

First let me say...SKR8PN....those poor doggies...look at them cowering in the corner... They look so Happy...but I know how dogs talk about us when we are not listening. To hear it topld, my 3 poms are constantly kicked, and never fed. Especially the 12 pound Pom. Beautifull dogs by the way!! LOVE the golden...looks like my boy, I sure miss him.

Now, for the animal chores. Lets see...coops. I have 2 coops and they are about 150 ft from the house. One coop has 4 seperate pens and yards...and there are the pigeons in one yard. A total of about 27 chickens, 2 pigeons. So opening doors, checking feeders...filling waterers...( x5) takes about 20 minutes. Then off to the stinkies.. aka broiler pen. 23 in there...open the door...fill the feeder and 2 waterers...maybe 10 minutes. Unless its the day I have to clean out the old shaveings and freshen with new. That takes about another 20 minutes...and I do it every other 3 days.
Then to the Banty Shanty/Turkey hut. 2 pens of turkeys ( 5 total)...open doors, check feeders, fill waterers....maybe 5 minutes. Next 2 pens, one has 7 Banty cochins...open door fill waterers check feed...then to the Showgirl pen ( 2 in there) open door, fill waterer check feed. Total between 2 pens...5 minutes. Then the Silkie pen....4 in there. Takes about 2 minutes. Let the Duck out, fill her water and check feed..maybe 2 minutes...and then take the princess Frizfriz to her outside yard. So, just poultry, about 45 minutes. Then off to the barn...its 300+ft from the coops. Ewes and lambs first...open thier front door..feed some grains...maybe 5 minutes. Then to the goat side..this is where it gets tricky. Grab a pail of grains...fight my way into the pen without getting mauled by the 3 big boys...or horned by BamBam...out to the yard..to get grains in 3 seperate bowls. This alone takes about 5 minutes. Grab some hay, get it into thier yard feeder....and get the gate closed. Then come inside, get Pebbles and the baby out to thier yard...get her grains, hay, and water...maybe 5 minutes. Then open the big door for fresh air and sunshine. Maybe a total of 20 minutes. Thats mornings...evenings are about the same...just closeing doors..and chaseing everyone back where they belong inside. Winter takes about twice that, when there needs to be more hay,feed,water changing, checking water heaters. ( 10 of them) Whew! I guess its a good thing I love my animals! LOL

 

[bibliophile birds]

my daily chore list has exploded in the last few weeks... ahh, spring.

mornings: 1 hr- 1.5 hrs

open coop (which is 1/2 mile from the house)
feed/carry out water
feed/water broodies (which are in a section of the main coop)
feed/water birds in isolation pen (at the house)
feed/water geese (at the house)
feed/water chicks (in the basement)
feed/water 5 dogs
take all the dogs out
feed/water 4 cats and check on the 4 new kittens
check cattle troughs

day time:

weed/water garden
work on house remodel (ugh)
there's always a fence to fix...
go for a swim when i get hot and stinky

night: 30 mins

close up main coop
close up isolation coop
close up geese
feed 5 dogs
take dogs out
feed 4 cats

once a week: 45 mins

move chicken coop (this wouldn't be so bad if i had the right fence...)

in the winter i get to add putting out 8 round bales of hay every day, which is a good 2 hrs. luckily i have a barn manager that feeds/waters all the horses in the barn or i don't think everything would get done.

 

[Beekissed]

Five, ten minutes tops both morning and evening. I've worked out over the years the most efficient ways to feed/water so that a person could do it quickly.

I tried different feeders and waters but nothing beats the ease of the single trough style feeder for the chooks and the black rubber pan for their water.

For the sheep and dogs, heated 8 gal. buckets keep me from having to beat the ice out of waterers.

This winter will be another experiment in this, when I place cattle panels in front of my hay storage and let them eat their way into the stack....sort of a self-serve salad bar.

I would love to have water to the buildings/barn but this will never be.

Oh..forgot to add that all my animals and buildings are on an acre of ground, so no real distance to go to do the chores.

 

[FarmerChick]

Almost an all day affair for this farm

Hogs are fed 2 times per day
Eggs are collected 2 times per day
Chickens fed/water one time per day
Goats "checked" up on 2 times per day (goat herds get into tons of pasture trouble most times lol)
Hog pen floors water washed one time per day (this is alot of work actually lol)
Cattle fed one time, checked 2 times per day


I have my personal barns far from the house at my personal home. I don't like my animals too close. I want my space and I give them theirs lol My horse barn is closest and my goat barn is further back towards the woods out in the pasture

My hog/chicken/cattle and some other goats are at my barn located on other property about 2 miles down the road. This is where most of the hard work happens


So I can't add it up into hours, it just happens daily and we plod along




We sold all baby goats last night and got big bucks my boer bucks at 3 mos went for $80 each and gals went for about $90 I did very well on them this sale

Sold about 50 chickens also only $5 each but happy with that right now