I can sympathise . . . sometimes common sense just isn't.
Although I am happy to say that the girl across the road looks after my chickens very well. However, the first time we went away and left them in her care, the lock on our cellar (where we keep the chicken food) jammed. Luckily, she used her common sense and rang around pet shops in the area asking for 'chicken food'. When she did eventually find one that had it, they drove to the nearest small town (not Bristol). Only thing was they were sold grain, so they ate that for a week. Still, not their fault, it was the ignorance of the people in the pet shop.
Really, even someone with no chicken / cat / dog / rodent experience can cope with looking after them. Once they have been given a grounding in what the procedures in that household are, then it is just common sense - feed, water, clean out etc.
