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post #1 of 4

4/3/12 at 6:24pm

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PoultryGirly

Joined: 3/2012
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Do I have to get a "chicken sitter" when I go on vacation to feed my chickens and ducks? At the most, vacation will be a week. Can I just buy one of those savagecakes at mcmurrayhatchery.com and leave it in there run? Do I just fill their food bucket to the top with food???

Proud owner of a Shih Tzu dog (Snickers); 4 cats (Lindy & Lil' Kitty & Gizmo & Peppy),2 chinchillas (ChiChi and Chia), 4 guinea pigs (Zack, Ozzie, Baby Girl, & Freckles), a horse (Simba), 1 call duck (Sage), 1 Black East Indie duck (Whisper), 1 mallard duck ( Franny), a Partridge Cochin hen (Clover),an Easter Egger hen (Tilly), a Barred Rock hen (Savvy), ;3 younger chickens (Pinky, Bigfoot, and...

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post #2 of 4

4/3/12 at 8:08pm

10thmuse

Joined: 9/2011
Posts: 19
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Hi!

I always get a sitter.

Then again, I have 25 chickens!

My reasons not to leave them alone;

Eggs

Food

security

My girls can go through a full big feeder in 7 days or in 4 depending upon the week.

I imagine that the feeder + a block would make them running out of food pretty unlikely, but I wouldn't risk it!

I also have a 50 gallon auto watering system.

1 3 nipple outdoors and another 3 nipple in the coop, so water is always available.

Man I would have a mountain of eggs if I didn't gather for a week!!!

-K

post #3 of 4

4/3/12 at 8:37pm

donrae

Location: Southern Oregon
Joined: 6/2010
Posts: 6,881
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If I only had chickens, I would just top off the food and water if I were leaving for a few days. For more than 4 (my personal comfort zone), I'd have someone come check on them every 2 days or so. They're really self suffecient if you have a decent set up.

Rachel BB

Well, the kittens aren't so cute anymore and the easter egger cockerels are in the freezer. Plus, I think offering them as "prizes" scared folks off! So, I'm still posting quotes, if you know it let me know. I'm very enamored of this new one, it may hang around for a while!

"If I'd known the world was ending I'd have brought better books"

Rachel BB

"If I'd known the world was ending I'd have brought better books"

post #4 of 4

4/3/12 at 9:32pm

carladababe

Location: Dixon, Missouri
Joined: 11/2010
Posts: 254
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I would be more concerned about the water, my chickens make a mess even with the container raised. That being said, I am planning a road trip to see my Dad taking the dogs and the cats with but my 10 chickens have to stay home with a sitter. I want my chickens to be seen daily, I'll pay and they can have all the eggs. I'm buying a 7 gallon water container to go along with the two 1 gallon water containers we use now. You can only fill the feeders so full. So I have to use a friend/sitter. I'm sure I'll worry like a Mother hen.