Just disgusted and sad....

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
This is pretty similar to what I had in mind. He needs to own up to not having met his end of the bargain and to be in on the negotiation of what his "work" is worth.

 

[Slike]

If someone fails to do the task they signed up for, payment shouldn't even come into question. It shouldn't exist. This is far worse than any other sort of situation seeing as it involves neglecting LIVING beings and causing the loss of those unhatched eggs. People who act in that manner are repulsive. Don't feel bad because you said you would pay him and you still haven't. HE said he'd take care of your animals and yet did not, see where I'm going? Unless there was a contract written, you have 0 obligation to pay that steaming pile.

So what if his parents get sore over him not getting paid? He's a bloody adult. If they are so dim that they can't understand what a fool their son is in light of this, I wouldn't worry about what they think of you. If he can't take simply watering, feeding and keeping some birds and cats indoors and safe at night, why would you want to do anything that might possibly benefit said individual? Sparing you the details, if someone did this to my animals after assuring me they would be cared for, that person would very quickly find themselves having lost the use of several limbs. My pets are family.

 

[ginasmarans]

I would call him to your house,tell him how disappointed you are and make sure you tell him about the loss of the eggs. I would not pay him anything. Is there any evidence that he ever came over?

 

[chicknmania]

Quote:
that isn't the point, the point is that it was arranged to have care given. it's not that she couldn't do that, she wanted to have them cared for and was going to pay for it.

we all have tough choices to make when it comes to animal husbandry and unfortunately, people are not perfect.

maybe i should start a chicken boarding house!

well actually that is the point, the animals are hers to care for in the end,one thing people will do 90% of the time is NOT show up and do the chores until you are on the way home,they know nobody is there to watch them so they do it whenever and however they want to,even at your day to day jobs how many people do you know that sluff off until things come down to the wire,then make it all pretty and looking good so the boss thinks they are doing their job,its just human nature for alot of people to think and act that way,I said I wasnt defending the guy,just trying to help her see that they probably can be left home alone for a few days and they probably will be ok,most times better off then when you hire someone to come and do chores..

Look, quit attacking ME!!! What is the point of you becoming controversial???????? But let me set you straight on a couple of points, since you keep persisting.

1) I would never, never, leave grain out all weekend for my chickens, cooped up in the barn, and come back to a barn full of rats and mice and a bunch of starving chickens, who didn't get any food past the first day because the rats, mice, and wild birds ate it all.

2) It is much less stressful for any animal if they can maintain the same routine they have every day. Our chickens are happy and stress free. We felt bad enough about keeping our cats inside.

3) The weather was too hot for the chickens to stay cooped up in the barn all day. It gets very hot in the barn in hot weather, if it is closed.

4) I would worry about them being bored to the point of constantly fighting, AND that they might knock their waterers over, which they are known to do. Chickens with no water in a hot barn = dead chickens.

5) If we left our cats and guinea pigs alone all weekend, again I would worry about their food and water supply, especially the guinea pigs.

6) We wanted someone to watch the house, and make it appear as if someone was nome.

You may have noticed that I didn't comment on the way you take care of your animals. Whatever works, I guess, but I totally disagree with your methods, now you mention it.

I was simply commenting about my neighbor. I didn't ask for your or anyone else's opinion about how I take care of my animals. Keep it up, see what happens. btw, I appreciate everyone else's comments, thank you.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Really examining and consciously making choices creates rich, satisfying living. Chicknmania, I am confident you will make a good choice of what to do in your situation.

Thanks for sharing the opportunity to microcosmically learn about various viewpoints through everyone's sharing here on BYC! I am enjoying this chance to hear how different people might evaluate this situation and hold various expectations in life.

My opinion re. this situation is:
- People who do nothing to care for the animals should be paid nothing (ie. Other neighbors who were not hired).
- Someone who does something (such as taking some time to come over to the house and do some tasks) should be paid the value of what they did, minus the value of any damage that resulted from anything they did as willful harm or gross negligence.

 

[PoultryPedia]

As an added note, I did not realize how frequently pet-sitters are neglectful or unskilled in providing care for animals. Everyone's reports gives me a real wake-up alert for if we hire someone in future sometime.

Maybe a helpful thing when hiring a sitter would be to pay the person to come and do the full care 1 day while you are still home.
1. Then you could get more of an idea of their motivation level to do a thorough job, and
2. You'd be able to provide extra info you think of plus answer questions the person is bound to encounter once they try out doing the work themselves--not having your same knowledge or them having forgotten or not fully understood things you told them.

 

[chicknmania]

Someone on here mentioned they decided to pay their caretaker $25.00 a day. Wow, that is extremely generous. We had to put our dog in the vet's kennel (she is not friendly to strangers)...and we paid them $25.00 a day for her care which included veterinary supervision, too. I know the kid was here because our animals were not starving and frantic when we got home. The roo without water was a little thirsty, but not dehydrated, I mean, I know he was probably going in at night, per our instructions. I think what I will do is pay him $5.00 for the two half days he watched our pets, and $10.00 a day for the two full days. Normally I would pay him !5.00 a day, b/c that is a lot of work if he had followed all the instructions. Or, I might just pay him $5.00 a day. Whatever I pay him, I may include a note indicating what we were dissapointed with. I've been thinking about it and decided I can't really prove that he was neglectful in the dissapearance of the eggs...I mean, another chicken may've eaten them when mom was off the nest, or, a squirrel or anything could've eaten them during the day when she was off the nest and the doors were open. I suppose there is a reason behind the old phrase "don't count your chickens before they're hatched

". I won't use him again, but, I made a mistake on the age...he's not 21, only 19 or so. Still no excuse...as I said before, my kids would never treat animals that way.

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
Those posts didn't strike me as either attacks or controversial.

 

[roosmom]

I would be so un. First of I would say that everyone is different. I know you do not want to alienate anyone but you need to say something. I would figure the price of you paying him and subtract the price of the eggs (whatever you were going to do with them) at full value.
As a mother of a 24yr old ( it would only matter anyway if he were.. ummmm 5) I would kick his bleep bleep bleep for doing something like this, and I wouldnt let him take any money either.
I am sorry.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Chicknmania, I'm totally with you on not leaving the chickens for extended periods. We were gone a weekend and had a chicken sitter (who was wonderful--luckily!). However, all he had to do was let them out in the morning and shut the door at night. We wanted someone there simply to make sure they didn't knock anything over or run out before we expected. They didn't. We could have been gone a few more days, actually. However, it was nice to know their routine wasn't disturbed and that if something did happen, there would be someone there to notice and refill waterers, etc.

I was glad, too, that he was there to gather eggs. I don't like them to sit too long, not so much because I'm afraid of spoilage (they'll be fine for a day or two) but because I'm so paranoid about accidental breakage.

We have left them without a sitter for overnight because we know if something were to happen, we would be back in time to refill water before it became an issue. (Even that makes me nervous. I love them!)

Everyone has to use his or her own judgment as to how to provide care for their animals while they're gone, but I think your ideas and mine are probably quite similar. I would be quite upset in your situation! I think your plan to deal with it sounds reasonable.