Chicken Sitter???

[Annalyse]

Hi, I'm planning to Travel sometimes for a couple of days and my chickens dont have a set up to go on there own and was wondering if there was any chicken sitters in Hampton/Newton NJ. It would be for day and night. I was going to have my cousins come and help but I would feel better if there was an experienced person to take care of a flock of 7. 6 hens and one Rooster who they would have to be very careful with because new face and he is in the that stage where he is mean sometimes. Or Any other ideas people can give me would be great. Thank you. And no rush at all just wondering

 

[Neggative]

your going to have a hard time finding somebody on here close enough to you.....

 

[gtaus]

I don't know what your coop/run setup is, but in my case, I have my feed and water in the chicken coop. If I fill the waterer and the feeder, in theory, I could leave my chickens locked in their coop for 7-10 days without any problems. But since I live in northern Minnesota, I built my coop twice the size normally recommended for my small flock of 10 chickens. This past winter, they never left the coop to go outside for almost 2 months. That is not uncommon where I live, and people who raise chickens here usually have larger than required coops to winter over the chickens.

Point is, you might be able to make some changes in your setup and not even need a chicken sitter if you are only going to be gone for a day or two.

 

[aart]

was wondering if there was any chicken sitters in Hampton/Newton NJ.

You'd be better off asking in your state chat thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-jersey.537/page-512

Point is, you might be able to make some changes in your setup and not even need a chicken sitter if you are only going to be gone for a day or two.

Ditto Dat!

 

[Annalyse]

Thank you to the replies. When we first built the coop it was intended for 4 birds but I need up getting 7 so yea I have to feed and water everyday.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I have family close by, but I've been able to automate most of my setup which helps a lot. My feeder holds 100+ pounds of feed, my waterer will hold 5 days of water in the summer, or 7-10 in the winter. I'm building an automatic waterer, hooked to my faucet on a float valve. It works great for my rabbits, and should work just fine for my chickens. I do not tolerate aggressive animals. I'd be afraid of having someone come over to check on chickens, with a "sometimes mean" rooster. That is unacceptable, especially if one knows the animal can be aggressive.

 

[Annalyse]

I have family close by, but I've been able to automate most of my setup which helps a lot. My feeder holds 100+ pounds of feed, my waterer will hold 5 days of water in the summer, or 7-10 in the winter. I'm building an automatic waterer, hooked to my faucet on a float valve. It works great for my rabbits, and should work just fine for my chickens. I do not tolerate aggressive animals. I'd be afraid of having someone come over to check on chickens, with a "sometimes mean" rooster. That is unacceptable, especially if one knows the animal can be aggressive.

Thank you. My coop is small but they come out of coop and run in a fenced area only when I let them out. We are also training my rooster. Hes getting better.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'd try to set up everything for success, to make it as easy as possible on your sitter.

- Know how much feed your flock goes through in a day and then leave that much plus extra.
- Same with water, know how much they'll go through in a day, and leave extra.
- An auto door really would be ideal to let them in and out while you're gone. If you don't have time to install one now, consider it for the future.

The last time I was gone for 3 days and had to have someone (my neighbor) come and check on the chickens, all they had to do was open the door in the morning, close at night, and gather eggs. I had food and water all accounted for to make things as easy as possible for her. I now have an auto door so only need someone to get eggs, or I could just let them pile up for a few days

 

[Annalyse]

I'd try to set up everything for success, to make it as easy as possible on your sitter.

- Know how much feed your flock goes through in a day and then leave that much plus extra.
- Same with water, know how much they'll go through in a day, and leave extra.
- An auto door really would be ideal to let them in and out while you're gone. If you don't have time to install one now, consider it for the future.

The last time I was gone for 3 days and had to have someone (my neighbor) come and check on the chickens, all they had to do was open the door in the morning, close at night, and gather eggs. I had food and water all accounted for to make things as easy as possible for her. I now have an auto door so only need someone to get eggs, or I could just let them pile up for a few days

Thank you. I will take this into consideration. But since I have a rooster I dont really want my eggs sitting for too long or someone might try and hatch a babe. Lol

 

[Birdie mom]

how long will you be gone?