Just moved onto acres with chooks: the first 90 days
Chooks are the easiest animals on the place right up until the morning you find feathers and no chooks. Almost everything that goes wrong with backyard chickens on acreage is one of three things: something ate them, they ran out of water on a hot day, or something was wrong for a week and nobody noticed because a chook hides it. All three are habits, not skills.
The first week — the coop and the door
Lock them in at dusk, every single night
Foxes, dogs, goannas, hawks by day, snakes in the eggs and pythons in the roost by night. The coop needs a floor a fox can't dig under, mesh a fox can't chew through, and a door that gets shut when the birds have gone to roost. An automatic door is the best money you'll spend on chooks; the second best is a habit.
Water in the shade, and a second one
Hot days kill chooks faster than anything else on this list, and it happens quietly in an afternoon. Two waterers, both in shade, checked morning and afternoon on a hot day. A frozen waterer on a frosty morning is the same problem in reverse.
Ventilation without draughts
A coop that's airtight gets damp and ammonia-heavy; one that's draughty at roost height chills them. Air moves above the roost, not across it.
Where the feed lives
Feed left out overnight feeds rats first and chooks second, and rats bring snakes. Feed in a sealed bin, fed morning and evening, or in a treadle feeder.
The first month — learning what normal looks like
Look at them properly once a day
Bright eye, red comb, clean vent, standing with the others. A chook that's puffed up, standing apart, tail down, or sitting with her eyes half closed has been unwell for longer than you think. Pick her up. A bird that feels light under the feathers is a bird that has stopped eating.
Check the roost for red mite at night, with a torch
Red mite live in the cracks of the roost by day and feed on the birds at night. Run a finger along the underside of the perch after dark; a smear of blood means mite. They're the reason a flock stops laying and gets pale, and the fix is the coop, not the bird.
Scaly legs and lice
Raised, crusty scales on the legs are leg mite. Lice show as clusters at the base of feathers near the vent. Both are common, both are treatable, and your produce store or vet will tell you what's approved for laying birds — which matters, because you eat the eggs.
Worming and what's allowed for layers
Chooks on the same ground get worms. Which product, how often, and whether you can eat the eggs during and after it — those are questions for a vet or a produce store that knows poultry, and the answer goes in the record with the date.
The first season — the calendar
Laying drops in winter; that's not illness
Fewer daylight hours means fewer eggs. A hen that stops laying in June and looks well is doing what hens do.
A broody hen sits, and sits
A hen that won't leave the nest and growls at you is broody. Fine if you want chicks and have a rooster; otherwise she needs to be lifted off daily or she'll sit for weeks and lose condition.
Snake season and the egg thief
In the warm months, a python in the nest box is normal in most of Australia. Collect eggs daily, keep the grass around the coop short, and don't put your hand in a nest box you can't see into.
Heat: the afternoon check
On any day above thirty, a mid-afternoon walk past the water and the shade is the whole job. Panting with wings held out is a chook telling you it's too hot; a chook lying down panting needs shade and cool water now.
Ring a vet now if
Ring a vet, or make the hard call, if a bird is gasping or breathing with its neck stretched; has a swollen, hard crop that doesn't empty overnight; is straining and there may be an egg stuck; can't stand; or has a bleeding wound the others are pecking. A chook that is hunched, puffed and off her food for two days is not going to come right on her own.
Write down today: what time the coop door gets shut, where the second waterer is, and the name of a vet or produce store that actually knows chickens. And check the roost with a torch tonight.
The rest of this list turns up by itself
The farrier date, the worming record, the trough check on the hot day, the fire rating on the bad one — the app builds the week for your place and your animals from your own weather, and puts each of these on the right day. Nothing waits on you remembering a guide.
General guidance for someone new to keeping animals on acreage, written to be careful rather than complete. It is not veterinary advice, and nothing here replaces a vet who has seen your animal. Rules about identification codes and tags vary by state and change; check with your state department of agriculture.