How much would/do you pay for a chicken sitter?

[ehoneybee]

We are planning to he gone for about 5 days in a few weeks. We will have 3 hens and an easy set up (run is attached to coop, all you have to do is open coop door and fill water and food as needed, which is right near run door. We have cloth wire on the bottom of run so the food and water don't get muddy at all. So, it is visiting twice a day am and pm and collecting eggs (which sitter can have - 2-3/day). I have a neighbor who could peek in on them during the day. We also might try to get away this summer for a month. This would be just more of the same but the coop will have to be cleaned periodically. What do you pay for someone to do this? It might be someone we know, or a total stranger.

 

[N F C]

Three years ago, we had to leave for 3 weeks (family issue). Friends of ours that had raised chickens in the past took care of our flock doing the some of the chores you mention (we didn't ask them to clean the coop). I believe we paid them $100 a week.

Don't know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you. We were in FL and it was a few years ago.

I don't think I could have asked a total stranger to cover for us. If we couldn't have found someone we knew and trusted, DH would have stayed home and I would have taken the trip by myself.

 

[ehoneybee]

Three years ago, we had to leave for 3 weeks (family issue). Friends of ours that had raised chickens in the past took care of our flock doing the some of the chores you mention (we didn't ask them to clean the coop). I believe we paid them $100 a week.

Don't know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you. We were in FL and it was a few years ago.

I don't think I could have asked a total stranger to cover for us. If we couldn't have found someone we knew and trusted, DH would have stayed home and I would have taken the trip by myself.

Yeah, I was thinking $100/week. By stranger I mean someone at least known by someone. Our coop would need to be cleaned out at least a few times in a month. It's small.

 

[aart]

I'd definitely want someone who was experienced with chickens, so they can spot problems (and know how to fix them) before they become disasters. It would also have to be someone I knew well and trusted to have access to my place.

What to pay them might depend partially on how far they had to travel to do the job.
I used to chicken, and rabbit, sit for a buddy, stopped by once a day on my way home from work to feed and collect eggs, eggs was my pay but they were friends and I was glad to help out. Birds were confined to coop and secure run. Things changed and they were no longer on the way home from work(I was laid off) so they gave me a gas card to pay for the gas I used to get to their place, was a 15 mile round trip.

I've talked to a few others about the house/pet sitting that we do, consensus was-we don't leave home for less than $10 a day. That goes up with distance traveled, as that takes gas money and extra time, and what the job entails-more animals, more per day.

 

[ehoneybee]

I'd definitely want someone who was experienced with chickens, so they can spot problems (and know how to fix them) before they become disasters. It would also have to be someone I knew well and trusted to have access to my place.

What to pay them might depend partially on how far they had to travel to do the job.
I used to chicken, and rabbit, sit for a buddy, stopped by once a day on my way home from work to feed and collect eggs, eggs was my pay but they were friends and I was glad to help out. Birds were confined to coop and secure run. Things changed and they were no longer on the way home from work(I was laid off) so they gave me a gas card to pay for the gas I used to get to their place, was a 15 mile round trip.

I've talked to a few others about the house/pet sitting that we do, consensus was-we don't leave home for less than $10 a day. That goes up with distance traveled, as that takes gas money and extra time, and what the job entails-more animals, more per day.

The girls will be in a coop with secured run so there will be no need to do much of anything other than open the door to the coop and feed and water them. I'm hoping to find someone local but around here, that could mean a 20 minute drive. I'm torn between going with someone I know who doesn't know chickens and a stranger who knows chickens. Honestly, I feel like it's easier than, say, dog sitting. I wasn't going to have someone sit here and watch them. Also, there will be no access to my house, just my garage where the food and bedding is stored. Idk, am I being too cavalier? My neighbor has watched them before and she has no experience, but has taken a backyard chickens course, so I guess not totally clueless. I don't want to ask her for the month because she runs an Inn, but I might ask her for the "week" we're away (it has turned into 3-4 days).

 

[Akrnaf2]

I have only 9 chickens, I paid my nephew, a 14 years old, 250 Shekels( = almost 80$) for 12 days, and all the eggs he could collect as a bonus.

 

[ehoneybee]

The girls will be in a coop with secured run so there will be no need to do much of anything other than open the door to the coop and feed and water them. I'm hoping to find someone local but around here, that could mean a 20 minute drive. I'm torn between going with someone I know who doesn't know chickens and a stranger who knows chickens. Honestly, I feel like it's easier than, say, dog sitting. I wasn't going to have someone sit here and watch them. Also, there will be no access to my house, just my garage where the food and bedding is stored. Idk, am I being too cavalier? My neighbor has watched them before and she has no experience, but has taken a backyard chickens course, so I guess not totally clueless. I don't want to ask her for the month because she runs an Inn, but I might ask her for the "week" we're away (it has turned into 3-4 days).

Correction: We will have 7 hens by the time we leave. Not sure if that matters.

 

[techbsmith]

I'm very fortunate - my uncle lives about half a mile down the road from me and has chickens as well. If either of us ever need someone to tend our flock, we're right there for each other. The only thing I had to worry about was him stealing my buff orpington..he thinks she is SO pretty. I took care of that by taking him to the farm I bought mine from so he could get a few buff orpington's of his own!

 

[aart]

Correction: We will have 7 hens by the time we leave. Not sure if that matters.

It might.
2 more additions of birds,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-i-really-need-to-quarantine.1232966/page-3#post-19796761,
can be problematic unless they integrate smoothly and as quickly as you hope,
something an experienced keeper might be fine with, but...

 

[Pensmaster]

The neighbor and I barter for this, and other chores.