Is it OK to leave enough food/water when going away for 3-4 days?

[paparootzi]

I left for 5 days and paid my neighbor 20/day to come by 2x a day. Chickens are SO EASY to care for. Who wouldn't want to make $100 for about 30 minutes a day????! (of course I stay much longer playing with them and watching them but the actual CHORES of feeding and watering doesn't take long so it's EASY MONEY for someone else) !!!!

 

[ichimuj]

Quote:
Thank you! I'm glad to hear of more chicken owners here in the city! Where did you buy your chicks? I was thinking that the raccoons will be a problem....they are all over the Sunset where I live! I was planning on building a longer run attached to the coop with the wire netting buried at least 1 foot underground (maybe deeper, now that I think about it!). I'm only going to let them free range when I can be home out there with them.

 

[mendogurl]

Quote:
Ditto.

I have 8 birds, built a feeder that will hold 3 months of food, two of the largest size waterers, and an automatic door. I have gone away for two weeks at a time.
I have a friend who checks in on the chickens everyday on her way home, in exchange for any eggs laid while I'm gone.

 

[ichimuj]

Oh Man, I'm ready! That's great...I really was worried about leaving them if we go out of town. I definitely have neighbors who can check, and I'll buy those big feeders/waterers. Now I just need chickens!! Oh yeah, and I still need to convince my husband that this will be FUN!

Thanks everybody for the info...love this forum.

 

[SF Chick]

I got my chicks (3-4 weeks old) at Ranch Hag Hens in Petaluma. I highly recommend them; check her website. She sells older ones too. Finding chicken supplies in SF is a pain -- you can search the forum for a thread on Bay Area suppliers.

For your run, make sure you use hardware cloth. Mine has a hardware cloth "apron" 18" out from the run, but burying it works too. You probably don't have as much of a hawk problem as I do unless you're near GGP or Sutro.

P.S. I never did convince my husband -- but he likes them now!

 

[toletiquesbysam]

We go away for the weekend twice a month during the summer, sometimes more. When we do these shorter trips I keep the chickens in the coop with the 5gallon feeder full of food and numerous waterers full. I have a 3 gallon waterer/5gallon waterer/ 2 5 gallon buckets for the ducks/geese and 3 rabbit waterers. If it's a terribly Hot weekend, then I ask our neighbor to let them out in the morning and shut them back up in the evenings but otherwise they are fine.
When we took a 10day trip this summer, we did have the neighbor come over and water/feed them and he enjoyed it. But I don't want to take advantage of him and it to become a burden on his already busy schedule so I try to make them self sufficient!!
It will be another long weekend away again and they will be just fine, the temp's have been cooler for us this summer so we should get by without the neighbors help!

 

[ichimuj]

Quote:
Ha Ha! That's how it worked when we finally got the dog! My husband likes our Boston Terrier now! He's skeptical about chickens, but I'm pretty sure he'll like the fresh eggs once he tries them.

I'm in the Sunset at 23rd and Lawton, so pretty close to GGP, and I often see hawks on Sunset Blvd. I like the idea of the "apron"...I'll have to consider that design. I probably won't get chicks until next spring...I'm thinking about building a coop for fun and its going to take awhile to gather info and design it. I'm going to check the website of the place in Petaluma....sounds great. I wasn't thrilled with the place in Half Moon Bay when I was there recently.

Anyway, glad to meet another SF chicken farmer!

 

[SF Chick]

Yeah, you'll have hawks over there. Good luck with the coop building!

 

[cmom]

My birds always have plenty of feed and water. I have feeders and waterers inside my coop and in their run. I did it orginally when I integrated my hens and pullets. The hens would try to block the pullets from the feeder and waterer in the coop but it also works well if I'm gone for 2/3 days.