Anybody take chickens with them to visit out of town for a few days?

[Carolyn252]

I only have two chickens. Would like some ideas on how to house them at my daughter's house when I go stay with her for a long weekend visit. She lives about an hour away from me. She has five dogs, so I can't keep them in the house or even in her back yard. All I can think of is putting them in her garage. Maybe in a large dog crate set on newspaper with lots of DE and wood shavings at the bottom of the crate? Could they live in the crate safely from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon? I've left those two chickens home alone in their coop and run for that long before, but that was when they had not yet begun to lay. Now, I'm afraid that they'll peck and maybe eat the eggs if they're not removed from the nest box every day.

 

[3KillerBs]

Maybe if you contacted the local 4-H leadership they could help you find a reliable chicken sitter so you can leave them at home?

Very few animals like being removed from their accustomed environment and taken somewhere new. Its stressful and that sort of stress disrupts their systems.

 

[patandchickens]

That's going to be real stressful for your chickens, especially if they see the dogs and vice versa. Possibly fatal, too, if there should be an accident or miscommunication regarding what doors are open when (an awful lot of people have their chickens killed by *their own dogs*, even through cage walls sometimes).

It would be far, far kinder to get someone to check on them once a day so they can stay HOME where they are comfortable and happy and secure.

Try neighbors, vet clinic, pet-sitter ads, etc in trying to find someone to chciken-sit.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat