Has anybody ever done chicken sitting?

[V Chic Chick]

Yesterday I found two hens wandering around my road, so I caught them, put them in a spare ark and went door knocking to find their owners (one person was like, oh yes, I think they might have come from that house down there, which is my house

). It turns out that they only live a few doors away (I'm at no. 3, they're at no. 12) and I never knew that they were there, and they never knew that I was there. Apparently these two girls keep on getting out, so I suspect that we'll be seeing more of them.

Anyway, given that I now know three households with poultry (including myself - one has ducks, and now this new one with two hens) within a stones throw of my house, I reckon there must be more around here, and I figured that what with it being the summer holidays, there might be a market for chicken sitting.

So, has anyone else done this, and how much did you charge? Did you charge by the hen, coop etc. or just a flat rate per day / week? Was cleaning out included in this charge? Did you have any problems?

TIA

 

[Gracefulspice]

I have a girl that comes to my house to sit for my chickens. It involves staying here, except if she has to go to work etc. But she spends the night and days here when she not working. Her job is to pick up the poop every morning in the coop, fresh water 3x a day. Make sure food is filled. Let them out in the run in the morning, and be with them outside if they free range. Lock them up at night. And of course give goodies.

She charged me $30 for the weekend. I gave her a $10 tip. Not a bad price to pay for piece of mind.

 

[V Chic Chick]

I was thinking more along the lines of me going down twice a day, morning and night. Do you think that £10 ($20) a week would be reasonable, when the minimum wage for an adult is £5.60/hour and I'm 15?

 

[Gracefulspice]

If you visit 2x a day for a week $20 is a bargin. Like I said the girl I have stays here cause I free range mine. But if I was to have someone come over 2x a day for a week... I would be happy to pay that person $5 a day. You can always price low and go up from there. You can also charge by what other animals they have. Good Luck. It can bring you some easy cash quickly.

 

[chickbea]

Eek - I'm not up on the current exchange rate, other than to know it's bad for us...
Anyway, I have a person come to my house to feed, water, and collect eggs while I'm away. She only comes once a day, and charges $10.00 a day. I don't have her clean, and she can keep the eggs if she wants.

 

[mike kirby]

hey v chic chick,

i live in england too, i thort i was the only british person on here!!

i was chicken sittin last summer for a friend i went down 2 times a day changed water, cleaned out a coop once, fed them and let them out for about 30mins a day and stayed there while they free ranged!!! i did it for 5 days!! and charged £10 and they gave me an extra £10 because i did a good job!!!

mike

 

[Backyard Buddies]

When we go out of town, a local teen girl comes over to care for our pets and garden. She comes in the morning, feeds the goldfish, plus feeds the cat and my three chickens and provides them with fresh water. The chickens are let out into their run. At night, she comes and locks up the chickens in their coop. She'll scoop poop daily and water my veggie garden as needed. All eggs she finds and veggies she picks are hers to keep. I pay her $10 a day. I bet your neighbors would be grateful for someone to chicken-sit!

 

[V Chic Chick]

I'm thinking of saying £2.50 ($5) a day for two visits, including feeding & watering & egg collecting, on the basis of up to 6 chickens, with extra for plant watering & feeding other pets. In the case of small rodents, it may be more sensible for them to stay at my house. Would you be happy letting your pets go to someone with no experience in that particular species, if you had a contact number?

Chickbea - £1 = $2, and £1 would buy you a couple of normal sized chocolate bars, or a bottle of coke.

Mike - It always helps if you put your location in

I was going to put up notices on the village notice board / post office / vets surgery saying something along the lines of -

Poultry, Pet & Plant Sitting Available

- Experienced, knowledgeable, responsible chicken keeper
- Based in *insert my village name here*
- Experience with other poultry & livestock from *name* city farm
- Other pets cared for by arrangement
- Houseplants and gardens watered
- Low, negotiable rates

Call Helena on 0123456789


Anything else you think I should add to the above advert? A picture of a happy chicken perhaps?

And what happens if a pet dies?

 

[mike kirby]

your advert sounds good!!
if you lived in our area i would consider letting you look after my 3 buff sussex hens!! but it would be a long way for u to travel everyday as i live in birmingham!!!

good luck in your new bussiness!! lol
keep us posted
mike

 

[Dawn419]

V Chic Chick,

Your advertisement is excellent...I wish you lived in my neck of the woods! We don't have anyone to watch/feed our critters if we want to go away, so we never go anywhere.

We occassionally stay overnight at a friends house but I'm always awake as soon as the sun's up and I always drive back home to check on everyone (water/feed, let the dog have a potty break). Hubby thinks its hilarious...I prefer to call it keeping my sanity!

Dawn