My understanding (fair warn, I'm plenty ignorant on plenty of things) is that the summer grounds are further north of you, still. I would not rearrange my life around AI.The reason I ask about a chicken sitter is this: my options are my neighbors.
Right next door would be the logical choice: she has chickens, and I took care of her flock over Thanksgiving. Except her run is uncovered, and occasionally, her chickens escape, though they don't get far. She wants a bigger, better, covered run, but she has a LOT of irons in the fire, so it might not happen.
DH has said that we (neighbor and I) should avoid getting near each other's flocks, as a precaution. That might be like locking the barn door after the horses escape, but could be a good idea.
We're kind of a community back here. There are 5 houses, and we all walk along the same road, so do our dogs. We're at the end of the road, so nobody "walks by" our house, though we pass every other house on the road when we walk our dog.
There are plenty of geese in the area, year round. We're on a river, and just upstream is a dam and reservoir, and I've seen ducks there. I don't know if it's their summer home, but it could be. If so, that may mean if AI comes to the area (and Kalamazoo is less than 100 miles from me), it could be here all summer. Or forever.
Do I stay home to take care of my birds, or chance someone else coming on the property? I haven't brought this up to DH, yet, and he hasn't made the connection in his head, yet, that he's mentioned. The "conflict" overseas has dominated his thoughts since yesterday, not AI possibly on our doorstep.
What would you do, in my position?
Basic Biosecurity - without regard to AI - suggests that flocks don't mix, and humans don't become a disease vector between them. That weighs against calling on the neighbor (or the neighbor calling on you).
I missed how long you expected to be gone, but its certainly possible to mechanically "automate" with relatively little effort (or expense) so that your chickens can largely care for themselves for a short period, using a combination of bulk feeders and multiple deep water sources with gravity or float fillers, so that even if one fails, the chickens continue to have sources of clean water. The only thing I do to provide my birds water is to periodically EMPTY the bowls, to remove accumulated dirt (my ducks are entirely to blame).
/edit were it not for my goats sharing the same space (I know this is a bad idea, precisely because of feeding concerns), I'd be able to go 5-7 days absent with no concerns whatsoever for my birds, apart from overfull nest boxes. All I'd need to do is set out 100# of feed in the Jfeeders and weather sheltered gutters. The water already takes care of itself.
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