Going on vacation and need some advice about keeping my hens safe

[Farmlife16]

I have the Happy Henhouse auto door and love it! An auto door is one of the best chicken investments you can make.

An anti-dig apron is a must whether or not you go on vacation.

When you go, have somebody check on the chickens every day even if they have food and water to last them for weeks. Chickens can get into trouble even if you take all the precautions. If the daily helper is just a neighbor or a friend with no chicken experience (which will be enough in most cases), have somebody else as a back up, somebody with chicken experience and access to a vet, somebody you can call on in case something goes wrong. If nothing goes wrong, anybody can go check in on chickens. But if a chicken gets attacked, falls ill or dies, the just-anybody helper may not know what to do, or may not feel comfortable dealing with the situation. Animals are unpredictable and anything can happen, so have a plan B if something were to happen while you were away.

This is when it's important to have a separate enclosure somewhere for isolating birds - whether because of bullying, to recover from an injury, to quarantine from illness etc. It can be a large dog crate in the basement, a rabbit hutch, one of those small prefab coops that aren't good for anything else etc. Sooner or later you'll need to separate a chicken for some reason, and it's good to have a place you can put them. And your helper person should be instructed on what to do and how to isolate the chicken (and, obviously, have access to the isolation space, if it's in your house).

My flock is generally very stable, but every once in a while sh** happens. For example, I recently had a clusterF of misfortune - an illness followed by a death in the flock, followed by a bout of bullying that left a hen bloodied (if I hadn't intervened right away to separate her, they would have likely cannibalized her, because chickens are stupid). I was working from home when all of those things happened, and was able to act fast and prevent further tragedy. If I'd been out at the office all day, things would've gotten worse. If I'd been completely away on vacation for days, each situation could've cascaded into a much bigger problem requiring intervention, and I don't think my general standby helper person (neighbor) would've felt comfortable dealing with sickness, blood or death. I do, however, have a seasoned fellow chicken owner friend who isn't available for daily check-ins, but who has my back in case sh** hits the fan and something serious happens. I can count on her to intervene, isolate, treat, or drive a chicken to the vet if necessary. Friends like that are priceless. Try to find yourself one, in addition to the daily help!

Thanks for the advice!! I didn't think about having a quarantine area ready in case something happens. I have a dog kennel that I can clean up and have available for my "chicken sitter"

 

[Lizzy733]

If you have rats, go longer and bury the apron. We did an anti dig on top of the ground and it didn't take them long to figure out how to get in.

We have virtually no predators here, so my coop doors always stayed open when we were gone or when integrating new flock members, but that coop was also elevated. - If you're handy, I've heard of people making diy pop doors out of old retractable car antenna motors.

 

[Farmlife16]

If you have rats, go longer and bury the apron. We did an anti dig on top of the ground and it didn't take them long to figure out how to get in.

We have virtually no predators here, so my coop doors always stayed open when we were gone or when integrating new flock members, but that coop was also elevated. - If you're handy, I've heard of people making diy pop doors out of old retractable car antenna motors.

Thank you