Official BYC Poll: When You Travel, Who Looks After Your Chickens?

[My Three Chicks]

I have a dog sitter that stays in our home with my special needs dog when I am away. I pay her $25 a day extra to take care of my 4 girls. She let's them in and out of their run, feeds and waters them, cleans up their poo in the yard so the dog doesn't eat them all (the chicken poo that is!). I also give her the eggs they lay while I'm away.
She's very trustworthy. The only person I'd trust with my dog (and now chickens too). Hope she never moves!

 

[the_peanut_coop]

My older brother comes and lives at our house and takes care of the animals for us.

 

[kmart60]

Our setup - automatic door, two large-capacity treadle feeders, nipple waterers, means it's easy for the neighbours to just pop over and collect the eggs when we're away. We do the same for them, and also the neighbours on the other side. We live in a cul-de-sac of 7 25-acre properties, everyone helps each other out with time, equipment, excess produce, keeping an eye out for each other.

 

[BDutch]

I've only traveled twice since getting my flock. The first time, I had to hire someone randomly from Craigslist because the person to whom I'd been referred had a last-minute conflict. My initial reaction was that the Craigslist person was flaky, and I was reluctant to hire her. But, after we met, she seemed like she'd be okay. She grew up on a ranch, and her family had had a flock of chickens. She was aware of predator problems and acknowledged how important it is to keep the chickens' coop/run schedule for safety. I asked her if she would come 3x/day and agreed to pay her for each trip. I explained I had ALREADY had foxes in the yard trying to get the chickens, so it's necessary to corral them in their hardware cloth-secured run before dusk and then lock the coop door after dark when they've gone to bed. I followed up with written instructions in an email and was flexible about timing for the pre-dusk visit giving the latest time by which they needed to be closed in the run while agreeing that earlier, even a few hours earlier, would be acceptable if that's what worked in her schedule. I also gave the earliest time they should be let out of the coop--to avoid early morning foxes and raccoons that may still be out wandering--again being flexible if she needed to arrive a bit later.

Based on a text message she sent me the second day of my trip, I figured out she was going over midday, around noon, just to watch them, not secure them in their run or anything else! I was frantic, and she wasn't promptly responding to my messages. I finally got her straightened out about dusk, and the chickens were very lucky not to have been attacked when they were exposed in the evenings. But, she also arrived before dawn to let them out in the mornings. And, her invoice still charged me for the useless midday visits. Needless to say, I will not be hiring her again.

The second time I left, I only trusted my mom to help out. Not only does she understand the significance of the timing, she is patient enough to work with the flock. At that time, the flock was bullying on one of my chickens, and she was therefore reluctant to go in the run with everyone else. It took finesse and time to coax her in there. So, my mom sweetly agreed to drive quite a distance every day to make sure things were done correctly. I knew she wouldn't take cash, so I left her restaurant gift cards to grab breakfast and dinner on her way. She left the gift cards behind without using any of them.

I don't have any plans to travel, but I imagine something will arise. I'm currently working on a bigger run for the flock that will be covered on all sides and the top with chain link. The immediate need is to protect them from the hawk who showed up last fall (they've had bird netting for several months, but it's not a workable long-term solution). I'm hopeful it will serve as fox protection, too, and help me feel more comfortable should I need to be gone at some point.

Maybe this is helpfull?:
I have special predator bird netting and cat netting (with a thin iron thread in it) on top of the two runs I have. I prefer the cat netting. Above 6’ it works against foxes too.
After installing a automatic pop door to the run , my neighbours only have to come once a day, to feed the flock. The auto pop door can open and close on time or brightness (lumen) of you’re choice. It also can open/close by pushing a button.

 

[Chickenheadmate]

I leave them in a chicken tractor, that’s big enough, with enough food and water. By then, I’ll know how much water and feed I’ll need by keeping track of how much they drink. If I come to the conclusión that they will need a refill by a certain day, then I’ll have someone swing by.

 

[Solanacae]

I don’t have chicken yet but would an automatic door not be good enough for the chickens if they’re trained to go in and come out on their own ?

I think it depends a lot on the rest of your setup. In my situation, I have an automatic door to let the chickens out in the morning because of work/school schedules. If you have a secure area for them to go out into so they can roam around in relative safety (and it’s your call on what ‘relative safety’ looks like for you) then an automatic door is a nice option.

It depends a lot for me on how long I’m going to be gone. If it’s just overnight to go visit family a few hours’ drive away, then I’ll just let the autodoor do it’s thing and not worry about it. If I’m going to be gone for 3-4 days, I’ve got a couple of neighbors that I trust to come and check on them in the evening and collect eggs. I keep close track of how many are laid (and I can tell who laid by egg color/shape/size) so I just ask them to take a picture of the eggs when they stop by to do a head count.

Once a year, my husband and I will take the family on an extended vacation where we’re gone for 1-1.5 weeks and we hire someone because they are going come over multiple times a day to take care of the garden, the dogs, and the chickens. They are welcome to harvest anything ready to pick in the garden and any eggs that are laid. Ideally we’ll take the dogs to stay with friends and trade dog sitting with them, but if it doesn’t work out to trade, then we ask the person we hire to play with the dogs and spend several hours with them so they’re getting some attention and exercise.

We have hired teenagers we know well to do this - ones that don’t have a summer job but are looking to earn some money and we know to be responsible and comfortable with animals/gardening. One loved reading, so she just came over to our house and read in peace and quiet while she watered the garden/yard and the dogs were happy to snuggle up with her. We made sure their parents knew about the time commitment and were comfortable with both the schedule and the pay before any commitments were made.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You need an "other" option.

I guess we as a family don't all travel in the sense of us all being gone at the same time for extended periods. Our oldest, now 20, stays home when the rest of us have to be gone, usually just for a day. She takes care of dogs, cats, chickens. It works out real slick. She gets all the eggs she can eat, a cat to snuggle with and two dogs to romp with, all while playing her music at ear-splitting volume if she likes. Can't ask more than that!

 

[CrazyCochin]

You really “needed” an “other” option, as I was not able to cast a vote otherwise.

A relative looks after them (Inside the house, said relative is left with three cats, and a dog.).

And if no relatives are available, then our neighbor does. They raise and eat their chickens along with their eggs, so we don’t have to give them any of our own.

All the animal sitter (relative or neighbor) has to do is throw some corn or layer feed over the fence for the bachelor pads, and technically the same with our other small poultry enclosures. Also, collecting eggs and checking water buckets.

The main flock has a large feed bucket that can hold 80lbs of feed, and two large water sources, but we usually fill those before any trip.

 

[BDutch]

I don’t have chicken yet but would an automatic door not be good enough for the chickens if they’re trained to go in and come out on their own ?

Chickens always want to get out of the coop in the morning to scratch and do their chickens things.

Around sunset chickens go in the coop by themselves to rest (to roost).
Most chickens do that by themselves without training. But some chickens do not bc of different reasons. Most common reasons are:

• its too dark in the coop and the chickens don’t feel safe to go inside.
• they found another place to sleep. Best keep new chickens inside the coop for a whole day before you let them free range to get accustomed to the coop. Make sure they enter before dusk the first week (with a little scratch).

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Chickens always want to get out of the coop in the morning to scratch and do their chickens things.

Around sunset chickens go in the coop by themselves to rest (to roost).
Most chickens do that by themselves without training. But some chickens do not bc of different reasons. Most common reasons are:

• its too dark in the coop and the chickens don’t feel safe to go inside.
• they found another place to sleep. Best keep new chickens inside the coop for a whole day before you let them free range to get accustomed to the coop. Make sure they enter before dusk the first week (with a little scratch).

Still best if someone gathers eggs daily, to keep raccoons and other predators from coming in, esp if you're going to be gone several days.