Approx 10 week old chicks but we need to go out of town. What to do?

Would it be possible to cover the run before you have to leave???  If it could be covered securely, you could probably leave the pop door open.  You'd still need someone to stop by to double check on water and food, but it'd probably make YOU feel better.

If you can't cover your run, then you'll need someone to let them out each morning (especially if you're in an area that gets summer heat) and close the pop door each evening, or else they will literally be sitting ducks for raccoons or other nocturnal predators...

When I leave for just a weekend, I'm lucky enough to have a sister in law who will do this for me.  When I'm gone longer than that, I pay a pet sitter.

How big is your coop? How many chickens? Could you leave a feeder and waterer in the coop and have your friend check on them in there... We almost adopted chickens from a Farm Animal Sanctuary-- and they rescued about 4,000 (yes FOUR THOUSAND out of 10,000 or so) hens from an egg production facility that had gone bankrupt and left the hens without food or water for TWO WEEKS before they were rescued....

Inside the coop sounds safe....
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAjerseychick 

How big is your coop? How many chickens? Could you leave a feeder and waterer in the coop and have your friend check on them in there...

Inside the coop sounds safe....
 

If you're in an area like mine, do NOT leave them inside the housing - they would most likely die due to heat stress...

I think your best bet is to have someone let them out and put them in for the nite..Especially having no roofing on your run (which I would do as ones suggest)..To many predators that can easily get them during the day and nite. 

With this heat someone would have to make sure they have fresh clean water daily at the minimum.

As it sounds like you're planning ahead (it's not this weekend or something!), find another owner or neighbor or someone to come and give feed/water/wellness check.  At 10wks old, they'll be fine outside all day on their own....but giving feed and water is critical. 

Yes, it's a pain to find someone to do something like this (chicken sitter), but you'd do it for your indoor pets, why not outdoor?

Our pet sitter is a local dog/cat sitter company that also does birds and more 'unusual' pets like lizards/reptiles and such.  They charge us a flat rate fee for their time at our home, no matter how many critters we have at the moment.  So, this spring, an unexpected trip while we had meat birds.  We had 37 birds in four locations to take care of!  (Layer chicks in brooder, 2 tractors of meat birds that had to be moved daily and 1 coop of layers).  As we're regular 'customers', they happily took great care of everyone - jealous dog, ancient cat, spoiled parrot, box turtles, pond and chickens alike....can you tell we like critters?  Yes, it was a pricey trip, but when we got home, everyone was healthy,happy and glad to see us because they had received great care.  Money well spent...especially since the meat birds were nearly 'done'.