How hard can it really be?? Rant!

[Granny23]

Agreed I can tell you I am under 21 and I have had a job for 2 years working with the city and odds and end job but half 2/3 of my friends have never worked a day in there life. However i pay my sitter 12 dollars a vist and I have 4 dogs, 13 chickens, 5 cats and a guinea pig plus a fish tank

$12. a visit?? Can you come take care off my pets??? .

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

$12. a visit?? Can you come take care off my pets??? .

California's a little more expensive (alot more) than iowa but yes I would just cause I enjoy working with animals.....I work full time plus overtime for the city at 9 dollars an hour so......12 sounds great.....

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Mini rant: I hate to sound like an old battle axe nurse but about 70% of new nurses are into minimal effort. They want to sit at a computer, have an hour lunch and everything is 'too hard'. The job i work at now (after 20 yrs in hospitals) is CAKE and yet they stay 2 months and quit.
Off topic a bit but i empathize with the OP.

I understand how you feel. I had taken a number of years off after working ICU and Cath Lab, to be a stay at home Mom. In the last few years I have tried to go back, but need some "catch up" training on new equipment and such.
These young ones don't want to do any training. I had one preceptor who wouldn't even talk to me, much less explain what she was doing and became aggravated when I asked questions (Like I was in her way). I was told I wasn't catching on quickly enough, I was there less than 2 weeks.

 

[Regina Larsen]

I understand how you feel. I had taken a number of years off after working ICU and Cath Lab, to be a stay at home Mom. In the last few years I have tried to go back, but need some "catch up" training on new equipment and such.
These young ones don't want to do any training. I had one preceptor who wouldn't even talk to me, much less explain what she was doing and became aggravated when I asked questions (Like I was in her way). I was told I wasn't catching on quickly enough, I was there less than 2 weeks.

Whole new twist on 'eating our young'. Im sure she had time to be on her phone tho That sucks!

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

You all have been so validating of my feelings of frustration and I am grateful for that. Most people don't understand my love for my chickens, but you all do

Yes, we understand your heart, we have one that flutters just the same.

I suggest you learn a different lesson from this...

Is there a bulletin board at your local feed store? (Or similar local location) Put up a sign offering to 'chicken sit' for anyone else who needs a few days away from their babies. Once you have a few whose (over the top!) coops (and crazy bird love) you have established, you'll have found someone who will understand you and with whom you can trade help.

From what I am seeing, several of us should be doing this in our areas, I think I will make a little sign myself, I can't imagine your stress knowing they had no food or water.

All the best on getting your ladies sorted out... It might take a few weeks to get them back to where they were, they will certainly not take you for granted ii n the short term!

 

[SmiYa0126]

I need a chicken lover around here to talk to what a great idea!

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Wow! That was a bad experience. I think NOW is the time to start looking for a better replacement in case you ever want to go on vacation again.

FWIW, I have a 3 gallon waterer and a 5 gallon PVC hanging feeder. I only have to refill them every 7-10 days. Also, because I live in northern Minnesota, my chickens don't go outside all winter - they literally live in their coop almost 6 months out of the year. Long story short, I could fill up the water and fed and leave my chickens in the coop without anyone needing to see them for 7-10 days. Would I want to do that? No, obviously. But I think I could easily go a few days without worrying about them.

What about eggs? Do you have roll away nests so the eggs don’t get broken or eaten?

 

[gtaus]

What about eggs? Do you have roll away nests so the eggs don’t get broken or eaten?

I have not gone on "vacation" since I started raising my backyard flock. My trips out of town have only been day trips and I have returned that night.

If I had to leave for a few days, then I don't suppose I'd worry about losing too many eggs with my current flock. I'm only getting 1 or 2 eggs per now, with my five-remaining 3+ year old hens.

However, there was a time, like in year 1, where I was averaging about 7-8 eggs per day from my small flock of 10 hens. If I had to leave for a few days with young hens in high egg productivity period, then I think I might invest in either buying or making some roll away nests like you mentioned.

Or, I'd just top off the waterer and feeder and ask Dear Wife (or someone else) to gather the eggs daily. In my setup, you gather the eggs from the outside of the coop and don't have to do anything other than drop down the nest box door on the outside and collect the eggs.

I have never been too concerned about a broken egg every once in a while. I have had to deal with eggs being eaten, and that is always a concern. I went through a period where I knew some of eggs were being eaten, but I could never figure out which hen(s) were eating the eggs, or why. I give them extra calcium and grit and their hanging 5 gallon PVC are available 24/7. So, whatever hen(s) was eating the eggs was not from being hungry.

Since I was at home all day, I just started checking the nest boxes every 2 hours and gathered up any and all eggs. After a few days, the egg eating stopped. I never did find out which hen(s) were eating the eggs. Unfortunately, I went through at least one more period of egg eating and had to deal with it in the same way.

If I was building a coop today, I'd probably consider either buying or building some roll away nest boxes from the start. It would cut down the chances of eggs being eaten, and like you mentioned, a person could leave town for a day or two and not have to worry about the eggs getting broken.

 

[ChicFil- A]

I'm so upset. I went on vacation to visit my daughter who I've not seen since she moved last summer. I was gone 9 days. Boarded dogs and found a chicken sitter. Bonus! She is a 4th year vet student! Great! Or so I thought.

We have cameras, which I informed her of their locations.

Her jobs:
-Check and fill food dishes
-Check and fill water buckets
-Toss some treats in the compost pile in the mornings.
-Bring (friendly) rooster inside at night and back outside in the morning.
-Check one chicken's crop at night and adjust crop bra if needed.

Her compensation was an average of 10+ eggs daily and her requested $10/day.

We have an automatic coop door we open and close with our app so nights were on her own schedule and mornings I asked her to come between 8 and 9:30 am.

We knew something was off when we saw the rooster come out with the girls on the second morning when we opened the pop door. Messaged her and found out she locked a hen inside.

We could see the water bucket getting light and we never saw her open the feed cans (replay on camera) so we asked our son to check on them. Water inside coop was almost empty and water bucket in run was empty. This is where they stay from roosting time to 7:30 am so.... And the water bucket in the fenced run (which we saw swinging) was nearly empty. Food bowl down to dust. No water in the rooster's cage. So son fed and watered and would go back again to get a better look in the daytime.

He went back again to find the coop door nearly broken and he topped off the food and water.

And the entire week her average morning arrival time was 10 am.

We heard her and a friend laughing one night when she was there to put the rooster up.

This afternoon I came home to the broken coop door (which she still has yet to inform me of) nesting box door half off and not locked, water bucket in run empty, food bowl almost down to dust, one chicken sneezing with nasal discharge, another with a mostly closed eye, crop bra disheveled and some weird looking poops throughout the fenced in run among other small things.

Am I wrong to be so upset? Did I expect too much for too small compensation? This is my first time having a chicken sitter. We checked in on her periodically and she said always said everything was good so....I did pay her because she did at least get the rooster in and out for us.

Anyways, I'll be posting about my girl's closed eye next. I'm not sure what happened.

You really have to be cautious! some folks are raggedy dishonest!

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

What about eggs? Do you have roll away nests so the eggs don’t get broken or eaten?

No, I think you just put a sign over the nests that reads:

Self-Serve Make-Your-Own-Omelette-Bar

Maybe leave them some omelette toppings in big bowls next to the nests.


(No offense intended to gtaus, I do everything I can to make the tending work easier too... But I could just imagine what my little egg breaker would do if I let her.)