Does anyone "chicken sit" or have a "chicken sitter"?

[Cambium29]

We normally take our critters with us when we travel. We have an RV so it's no big deal but we may have a trip coming up this summer where we'll have to stay in (OH GOSH!) a hotel.

What do you do when you leave town? I'm especially interested in folks with smaller flocks or "pets". Do you board them? Have a chicken sitter? Lock them in the garage with 50lbs of feed and unlimited cable TV?

A neighbor or friend/relative is out of the question for us as we don't know ANYBODY here.

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Have a a farm sitter for the livestock outside, mom comes over & stays for the inside animals ie dogs, Gpigs,chicks.

 

[chickengrandma]

My daughter and I pet sit!!!! Of course, we live in Wisconsin, so that would be a slight hike for us! Dang!

 

[Pele]

This is a good topic as backyard chickens become more popular! I personally chicken-sit for my friends who turned me on to chickens, and they chicken-sit for me.

The first time we each respectively took care of each other's birds, we just came over in the evening and did a walk-through with each other. We showed each other the feed, pointed out everything that needed to be done, and handed over the keys. It's worked out wonderfully so far.

As far as your situation goes, I would look in the local classifieds, maybe even the yellow pages for a 'pet sitter'. Taking care of chickens isn't that hard, and a reasonably intelligent person who has handled animals before could easily be shown what to do. Just be sure you have them visit as often as necessary (twice a day if you have baby birds).

Good luck!

 

[Spoof]

I made sure I got to know my neighbors when I moved in and I'm always amazed that people don't. Ironically they're the ones that started my journey, after chicken sitting for them for the past two years and decided to get a few of my own this spring.

Check out your local humane society for pet sitter ads, there are usually half a dozen here. You can also do a search on craigslist for petsitters.

 

[harveyhorses]

Call a local vet and see if an of the Vet techs do 'sitting'. My step daughter has been doing that for years, never advertses, just word of mouth and calls to their clinic. The Vets around here usually have a list of sitters too. good luck!

 

[hennyannie]

Our local FFA students are always looking for jobs like that in the summer.I have had them call me wanting to help with our farm animals, get this, FOR FREE! I dont know if every state has FFA and agriculture classes, but i hope they do. The kids in those classes here are really good kids and willing to help out.

 

[Taylorhens]

I have a petsitter that comes over and takes care of my dogs, cats and horses. This year, my first with chickens, she looked at me a little strangely but said "okay" as long as I wrote up instructions for her. Basically, I left them with huge waterers and feeders, and just asked her to look at the water every day or two, as those waterers can get very dirty (especially since one of my chickens is really a duck). When I get home after 8 days away, she said she rinsed out the waterer twice, but other than that, they were "good to go."

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Your best bet is a "chicken-friend". My letter carrier is a chicken lady also and stops by once a day as she goes past to check on things. I set up a large waterer and feeder and seed block (to keep them busy and as a treat) so she just has to make sure they are full.