Going away on vacation..

[CedarAcres]

We're going on our yearly 10 day vacation, and I'm a little worried about our chickens while we are away. Normally, we'd have a family member stay at our house who has chickens & horses themselves, and one of us usually stays at their house while they are away to care for their horses & chickens. I don't normally have to leave instructions or anything since they know what to do. Our family member is having some serious medical issues and just can't do it this year.. so I need to have someone who doesn't have chickens do it.

We have 20 chickens.. our current system has one extremely large waterer that can last probably about a week without being refilled (although they will be refilling it through the week with fresh water), and some smaller waterers around as extras. They have two very large feeders in their run, that they can keep adding feed as needed and two feeders inside the coop. Then obviously letting them out in the morning and closing the door in the evening.

Any advice on making it as easy as possible for them?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What I did was make a list of the routine. Label all containers to match the list and have the person walk through the routine (morning and night) at least once. Twice is better.

 

[CedarAcres]

I'll definitely have to make a list... they are coming over today for a walk through and then once again a couple days before we leave. They are an animal lover so I know they will do their best!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I walked my friend through and the last time I let him do everything on his own.

 

[jesirose]

We are going to be going on vacation and I actually found a pet sitter who specializes in farms. They had worked with all sorts of animals. IMO it is worth paying them to know it would be done well.

 

[res]

We're going on vacation this summer, too. I have color coded everything for the horses. Each horse has a feed prep bucket that matches it's stall plaque and instruction sheet. Hoping that helps clear up any confusion as to which horse gets which feed.... Once you've scooped it into the buckets, it is hard to tell whose is whose if the buckets are all the same color....

I've simplified everything I possibly can with the chickens. Feeders and waterers are large enough they can last a few days. The hardest part is going to be teaching the sitters all the places the free-range hens lay their eggs!

I also looked around and hired "farm sitters" even though I had a BUNCH of offers from friends and neighbors who weren't farm/horse people. I just couldn't risk it. The sitter needs to know the importance of closing gates, making sure hoses get turned off, making sure everyone has food and water, knowing the signs and symptoms of distress and when to call the vet. Too many "what-if's" in my opinion, if I were to use a "city" person...

I found my sitters on Craigslist. Checked references. Everything checks out and looks good so far...

 

[Rich386]

We're going on our yearly 10 day vacation, and I'm a little worried about our chickens while we are away. Normally, we'd have a family member stay at our house who has chickens & horses themselves, and one of us usually stays at their house while they are away to care for their horses & chickens. I don't normally have to leave instructions or anything since they know what to do. Our family member is having some serious medical issues and just can't do it this year.. so I need to have someone who doesn't have chickens do it.

We have 20 chickens.. our current system has one extremely large waterer that can last probably about a week without being refilled (although they will be refilling it through the week with fresh water), and some smaller waterers around as extras. They have two very large feeders in their run, that they can keep adding feed as needed and two feeders inside the coop. Then obviously letting them out in the morning and closing the door in the evening.

Any advice on making it as easy as possible for them?

Here is the answer for your hens. Water is always full and clean. Feeder also comes in large 10 1/2" dia. container could be any size. Need more info send a PM

 

[SunAndDirt]

I just went on a 12 day vacation with laying-any-day-now hens.
Left detailed notes (including where latches for doors were located and how to undo the double latches on the pop and main doors - because we got kinda creative with that set up).
Everything went well, except in my note I mentioned the GOLF BALL in the nest box.

However, on a last minute shopping trip I happened to be right next to a craft store so I grabbed three white wooden eggs and swapped the golf ball out. TOTALLY forgot to edit my note. Turned my phone on after 4 days of camping to a "YOU GOT THREE EGGS!!!" text. I was SO excited. I was also SO exhausted from the camping trip I didn't make the connection for a few days. Turns out my pet sitter didn't notice the eggs were flat bottomed... or wooden.

Also, where in Connecticut? I'm in New London County and would help out if you're around here! (We *should* start a BYC vacation co-op!)

 

[CedarAcres]

That is so funny with the eggs! Thankfully our pet sitter does know that we have fake eggs in there, haha! Some of ours are very close to laying now, so I'm guessing that they will probably lay their first egg while we're away. One of our girls is in & out of the nest boxes, so it could be any time now. Hope your girls start laying for you soon!

We're in Berlin (Central CT). One of my family members had started a little network for caring for horses.. when someone in the group would go away, they'd split up all the days between the group members and everyone would know that their horses were being taken care of by trusted people! It worked really well for a few years, but then some people moved and it fell apart. But it was good while it lasted!

 

[SunAndDirt]

That's how some of my old barns used to work. We'd all pitch in for the neighboring farms, then it was always a familiar face coming in to care for the animals and everyone slept well at night.