I plan on leaving chickens alone at least one week

[IdyllwildAcres]

I am building my first coop and run combination and part of the deal with DH is that the chickens will not tie us down. I want to be able to leave the chickens on their own for at least a week at a time, 2 weeks with an occasional check in by a human. I searched the threads and found one where this poor woman missed her sisters wedding because everyone told her what a horrible idea it was. So I have read all that now I am hoping to hear from those of you that are set up to leave them on their own.

My coop and run will be one in the same, only 3 walls open to the run. Lots of concrete and Hardware cloth. It will be as close to fort knox as I can make it I am not worried about the raccoons getting them. I am planning on 22 gallon Brute trash cans (could go 35) for the feed and water, the water will have horizontal nipples or cups and heated with a stock tank heater and thermocube in winter. The feed will be raised off the ground and accessed by the chickens pecking at a device under the cans which will drop food as they want it. Nesting boxes will be roll out boxes with an outside access, egg area will be heated by seedling matt and another thermocube. Of course I will test everything out and know how long things last long before I ever leave them alone. What am I missing? What are you doing? Remember, new coop so I can do almost anything now I would rather get it right from the beginning. Thanks everyone I look forward to hearing your experiences for what works for you.

 

[iokra]

I have about 15 chickens and I am leaving them alone sometimes for more then two weeks at the time with nobody checking on them. I have an insulated coop and about one acre enclosure (it's really a paddock with side wire). I have two rain barrels for water with a side cap for drinking that works based on gravity - bought on eBay see link, but mine are connected to giant rain barrels (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Outlet...619148?hash=item1e6f9d9ccc:g:T5YAAOSw1ZBUshCo) and I also have a heated base with an other chicken water on top inside the coop. I have a 50 pound feeder inside the coop plus couple of other feeders hanging from the ceiling of my coop. Outside the paddock enclosure I have my two Anatolian shepherds dogs. I never got a raccoon (or any other predator) even though my area is full of them and I never lock them at night.

 

[6littlegirls]

Well I left the girls for a week and they survived with plenty of water and feed still left. Did a quick clean and fluff and they watched had check everything out as I cleaned. My sitter got 6 eggs every day while we where away. We got down to minus 31 celcius and they where fine. I know that we can leave them and not worry now as long as we do good prepp before hand.

 

[Adalida]

I've had to leave mine for a week. Of course I fretted about them but they were fine. If you really wanted to splurge you could get one of those cameras that you can access with your phone and see what they're doing. I left mine with three water sources, two feeders, and added some "boredom busters" the day I left- a giant heap of leaves/straw/yard litter to scratch through, a head of lettuce, etc, to keep them busy for awhile.

 

[Folly's place]

I've never left mine like that! Find a friend, relative, or neighbor who can visit least once daily, check on things, and get the free eggs while you are gone. Mary

 

[RonP]

I go through spells where I unexpectedly leave my very secured coop / run unattended for extended periods.

That said, my setup is designed for exactly what you are looking for.

My food supply will last a maximum of 5 weeks when full, 3 weeks at any given time.

My main water supply, 2 weeks at any given time.

I have several of these backup water supply on hand for preplanned absences.

Hope this helps.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I would not worry for a minute about leaving my girls for a week, as long as you are sure that they live in Fort Knox. Free feed food and watering they should be fine as long as they have enough room in the run so there is not an aggression issue. My coop is separated from the run with a small auto chicken door that opens at 8:30am and closes at 8:00pm. Even though I free range all day I built my run big enough so I could leave them in there and go on vacation.

 

[6littlegirls]

Everything is set for our week away. Food is good for 21 days as well as water. Water heater is working well at minus 6 celcius. Coop heater came on as well and went off as the temp warmed up. Green House was finished just before the snow came and the girls are enjoying it. They did venture out in the snow as well. They even did dust baths because the sun was out and found they could dig under the snow. We only got about a 1/2 inch.
Our sitter is setup to come by daily for eggs and check that everything is okay. We have timers on run lights to extend their daylight which they like now that the sun is setting around 6pm. I believe that they will be fine.

We are only 5 hours away if we need to get home.

 

[Thebernards]

I bought a commercial feeder that holds approximately 30 pounds of feed or so which lasts my girls for a couple weeks, it was expensive but worth it because I am lazy. I would suggest it for your vacation purposes. Oh, and lots of water. We did a 50 gallon rain bucket that attaches to a gravity waterer so we rarely have to give water (usually in summer but we then fill up the rain bucket and it lasts us forever and a day.) This would be another vacation system that would ensure time.

Look....I have 5 kids and a life that don't revolve around my chickens. Don't get me wrong, chickens are absolutely awesome and fun but so is Disneyland. I get it, lol.

 

[Leihamarie]

I am required to go out of town for at least 4 days/ month so when I started planning for chickens, everything I planned for was designed for them to be okay for at least a week on their own (in case something happens). PLUS I refuse to use plastic so.... here's what I did:


1) chose breeds that do well in confinement (didn't work out so well with my BR who paces back and forth yelling at me till I let her out, but she settles in eventually, lol!)

2) I bought several of these baby pig feeders and put one in the coop, and then one at each end of the run: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Baby-Pig-Fe...657444?hash=item33c18e40a4:g:fIsAAOSwHMJYDIe1

3) I have multiple nipple waterers throughout the coop and run for redundancy and to reduce chance of moisture (I used large mason jars and a 2 gallon ceramic jug)

4) I invested in a Pullet-Shut solar powered automatic chicken door: http://www.chickendoors.com/

Finally, I make sure they all have enough room in the coop and run, which sounds like it won't be a problem for you at all.

I still worry like crazy every time I leave but I remind myself that this is why I went to the lengths I did to plan for the chickens.

P.S. I love Idyllwild! It's my favorite getaway!