Care essentials

A handy chook calendar with daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal jobs to keep your girls happy and healthy

DAILY activities Let the chooks out after sunrise

Open the coop to release the flock from its night-time accommodation. If they have space, water and food, the chooks can be left in the coop until you’re ready to let them out.

Collect eggs

Gently clean dirty eggs. Date eggs using a felt-tip pen or soft lead pencil. Eggshells from older birds may be soft. Occasionally, abnormalities occur, such as an egg not having a shell.

Observe the ock for general health and wellbeing

If a bird seems slow, isn’t eating, or is staying away from the rest of the flock, or if she has other symptoms, such as bedraggled feathers or a dirty bottom, separate her from the flock. Bring her into the laundry, for example, and make sure she is eating and drinking. Sick birds can be taken to the vet. If a bird dies, remove the body and bury it deeply.

Clean and re ll water containers

It’s vital to keep the chooks’ drinking water clean and replenished. Scrub the containers and refill them. On hot days, leave out extra containers of water.

Top up feed, and provide greens and kitchen scraps

Allow about 110g of high-protein pellets per bird per day. Don’t mix grains and pellets. Greens and kitchen scraps add variety to the birds’ diet, particularly for chooks without access to a yard or area for foraging. Greens can be placed in a net bag and hung up as a fun backyard activity – the birds need to jump and stretch to reach their treat.

Shut the chooks into their secure night-time housing by sunset

This is vital to protect the flock from predators and keep them sheltered overnight. Set an alarm to remind you. On hot nights, make sure the sleeping area is well ventilated. If the weather is cold, wet or windy, ensure the coop isn’t exposed to these conditions.

WEEKLY activities Clean out or top up nesting boxes

Nesting boxes can become soiled with droppings or broken eggs. It may be necessary to do a thorough clean-up once a week and renew the nesting materials.

Check fences and security

Ensure perimeters are keeping your hens safe. Check more frequently after strong winds and storms, or if you’ve sighted a fox or heard warning calls from your birds.

Clean up uneaten food scraps

Rake up uneaten food in the yard regularly, as it can attract vermin. Keep a compost bin in the chook yard to easily dispose of uneaten scraps, droppings and spoiled litter.

Check litter, clean, and top up if necessary

Dry straw, hay or wood shavings on the floor of the coop absorb droppings and allow chooks to scratch about. Remove droppings from under where the hens roost, and add to compost.

Check the supply of grit, and top up if necessary

Hens need grit, such as broken shells, fine gravel or blue metal fragments, to assist with digestion. As they don’t have teeth, they start digesting food in their crop (part of the oesophagus). The grit should be rough and no smaller than 3mm.

MONTHLY activities Rake out the yard area to remove droppings, and top up litter

Add collected droppings and soiled litter to the compost heap, or pile it all up somewhere in the garden and allow it to age before using it as mulch on garden beds.