We got a lot of rain this weekend. Apparently we needed it, because several hours of rain didn’t even leave us with much mud. It all soaked right in. Most of the animals are pretty self-sufficient right now, since the grass has finally come in strong. We just keep an eye on them and keep the water buckets filled. The chickens take up the most of chore time right now. We have several pens of several different age-groups scattered around the fields. Most of chore time is spent in walking from one side of the farm to the other.

Raising backyard chickens is all the rage right now. I guess because they’re pretty simple, if your patient enough to put up with chicken poop on the porch. {smile} Over the last several years we’ve tried several different designs for coops, houses, and pens. Mr. Fix-It is now experimenting with a portable greenhouse design we might be sharing this Fall. But outside of the laying house itself, our chickens free-range and are very low maintenance. We’ve had to learn along the way that “gadgets” are just that–gadgets. The basics never change!

Here’s the basic supplies that we use every. single. day. Or at least once a week. Anything else (besides feed, of course!) is just taking up space.

1. EZ-Fill Waterer.

We bought this one from our local feed store this spring and I LOVE it!

We have quite the conglomerate of waterers around here. Every size and shape you can find on the store shelves. When I saw this design in the hatchery catalog, I thought it was brilliant–the answer to every complaint I’ve had over the last several years. We got one and–it is! I love it! It’s easy to fill. Easy to clean. And easy to carry around (empty–don’t try to carry it around full). The crew can handle it without help. We’re planning to slowly switch all the others out to these as we replace over the next couple years.

There’s a lot of cool designs on Pinterest for rain barrel waterers and stationary water sources. They’re very creative, but don’t work for us right now since everything here is portable and moving constantly. Constant, clean, water is essential to healthy chickens!

2. Top Fill 5-Gallon Feeder

Sooo…we’ve had ours so long I can’t remember where we got it from and I can’t find another one online to show you! It’s a 5-gallon bucket that’s open at the top and bottom, with a tray attached to the bottom. It holds about 20-25 lbs of feed and can be hung up or set on a stand. We’ve had ours for 7 years now and it’s still in great shape. The best feature is that it is filled from the top and the opening is, well, as wide as a 5-gallon bucket. It’s easy for anyone to use. (I can’t believe I can’t seem to find a picture of ours, but I guess, who takes a picture of a chicken feeder?!) {smile}

3. Egg Basket

We use an old woven basket (you might have noticed it in this post). I’d love to find a couple antique wire baskets, but most of them are either too expensive for actual farm use or the wire coating is coming off and they’re half rusted out. I love this image…

 The point being that you’re going to need something to gather all those eggs in. Believe me, you can make a pocket from your shirt or your apron or your skirt or use your coat pocket or whatever you come up with, but eventually you’re going to regret not having a basket. Just ask my washing machine!

4. Hand Rake

Just a simple garden tool that we leave hanging in the chicken house for raking dirty bedding out of nesting boxes…fluffing floor bedding after a few wet days…resettling chicken dust bathing spots…any number of little jobs around the coop or pen I’d just rather not do with my bare hands.

5. Putty Knife/Paint Scraper

I got this tip from a post by Lisa over at Fresh Eggs Daily…we keep a $1 plastic putty knife hanging in the chicken house. It makes scraping chicken mess of perches and boxes a piece of cake. The kiddos actually argue about who gets to use it now, rather than arguing about who gets out of the cleaning. Ah, it’s the little things!

So that’s pretty much it around here. I would also put chicken wire and zip-ties on my list, but those are usually about keeping the chickens OUT rather than taking care of the chickens themselves! {smile}

Any bare essentials you’d add to my list? 

See where I’m sharing this week…