Fiddle farting around on the farm.

[Siesta Sundance]

I've thought about getting a few chickens in the past year or so. I wouldn't want a ton; we only go through so many eggs, but I feel it would be good to expose my almost 3-year-old to, give him some responsibility, hands dirty, yada yada. I would need to figure out a coop and run area that won't just make a buffet for the foxes, hawks, and yotes...

Our chickens(no rooster) stay in a mobile coop 24x7. I only have to feed and water them every 7 to 10 days. I usually clean the coop then also, usually takes about 30 to 45min. Eggs are pulled from the nest boxes from the outside of the coop/door. When temperatures drop 30s and below, I usually go in and shut the door to the roost box after sunset. I have reptile heat lamp on a timer in the roost box. I'm gonna set up a warming plate under thier waterer tomorrow, we have some real cold temperatures gonna hit us next week.
We love our chickens and they require minimal time from us(with the right set up) and it's so rewarding to grab eggs daily. All our veggie scrapes get chopped and fed to them. We save all the egg shells, they get baked usually when we're using the over for our food. The shells then get broken up into small pieces and fed back to the chickens in thier feed, the shells are 95% calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, and other organic matter. Very beneficial to the chickens.