Leaving chickens while out of town

[Raubkatze]

We have run into our first hiccup of being newly minted chicken owners: Memorial Day weekend. My husband wants to join his family at their lake house about 2 hours away from our farm.

I'm curious how other people feel or address leaving their chickens alone to go out of town over the weekend? I reached out to family and friends and nobody is available to watch, as like us, everybody else wants to leave town too.

Chickens have an enclosed run, food, and water and an auto door. I have cameras on them. My biggest worry is the two week olds (they will be just shy of a month by memorial day), but they have been doing pretty solid in their brooder and I have a camera on them too.

 

[Debbie292d]

We do it for a four-day stretch in August, but do have the farmer across the road to lock them up at night and open the doors in the morning. They have enough food/water to last a month.

If the chicks are too young, they come with us. Hubby loads the generator, and I pack the heating pad. I've got a hot water bottle for the trip, with hot water in a thermos in case it gets cold.

Since you've got all your ducks in a row, so to speak, I see nothing wrong with it as long as you know they're safe.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have left them for long weekends before, with a similar setup (auto door, enough food and water, and secure run). However, I have only left a grown flock. I would not feel comfortable leaving 2-week-old chicks without supervision. There's a lot more that can go wrong with young chicks than with a mature flock, and often time is of the essence when it does.

 

[Lelilamom]

We lock ours in the coop with access to the enclosed and locked run. Feeders and waterers set up with enough for the entire time we are away. Chicks would have to go to someone's house if no one can come and check on them.

 

[CabritaChicks]

We lock ours in the coop with access to the enclosed and locked run. Feeders and waterers set up with enough for the entire time we are away. Chicks would have to go to someone's house if no one can come and check on them.

I agree with this response.
We have a 'pet sitter' who lives at the home during my surgeries. But I cant expect her to care for chickens the way I do... she specializes in parrots- that are indoors or aviary.

So unfortunately- the chickens will be locked in the coop/run with food and water. And I did explain the 'skewers' and 'bouquets' I give them to give them something to play with. In your case- these would be awesome.

Yes they will be pissed- but up until that moment- they live like thieves/royalty. Spoiled rotten. They will get over it. If it is just a weekend? not fret it

 

[tlcmurphy]

As others say, in an enclosed coop/run set up with enough feeders/ waterers they will be fine for a long weekend!

We are currently at the beach, and have a young woman coming every other day to check the food and water, and most importantly (to me) have eyes on the birds. Our neighbor happily collects the eggs on the days she doesn’t come.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Other than the chicks there's no issue with your plans, we just load up the waterer and feeders and they stay in the run while we're away.

The chicks do make things a bit more difficult. What's your current integration plan? It might sound aggressive but depending on your temperatures I'd start integrating them now. I'd be okay leaving 4 week old chicks that were fully off heat and integrated with the adults for a few days, but only if both those points have been addressed.

 

[Lelilamom]

Other than the chicks there's no issue with your plans, we just load up the waterer and feeders and they stay in the run while we're away.

The chicks do make things a bit more difficult. What's your current integration plan? It might sound aggressive but depending on your temperatures I'd start integrating them now. I'd be okay leaving 4 week old chicks that were fully off heat and integrated with the adults for a few days, but only if both those points have been addressed.

I'd be careful about leaving 4wk Olds with the adults unsupervised and integrated. I've had adult hen mass murder 3, 4 and 6 wk old chicks that weren't raised by a hen in the coop. If you can separate them so that the hens and chicks are face to face but can't get into each other's spaces, that would be best.

 

[NatJ]

We have run into our first hiccup of being newly minted chicken owners: Memorial Day weekend. My husband wants to join his family at their lake house about 2 hours away from our farm.

I'm curious how other people feel or address leaving their chickens alone to go out of town over the weekend? I reached out to family and friends and nobody is available to watch, as like us, everybody else wants to leave town too.

Chickens have an enclosed run, food, and water and an auto door. I have cameras on them. My biggest worry is the two week olds (they will be just shy of a month by memorial day), but they have been doing pretty solid in their brooder and I have a camera on them too.

You will be 2 hours away, and you do have cameras on them.

Would it be possible to just drive home if you see a problem? That would be 2 hours each way, which means 4 hours total or maybe more if traffic is bad. I don't know how big of a deal that would be for you.

For the chicks, I worry that they might be outgrowing their brooder in two more weeks. So you might think about giving them more space. I wonder if something like this would be a possibility?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/
It's a brooder inside the main coop, with chick-sized openings. That lets the chicks come out and interact with the adults, but they can run back into the brooder for safety.
Something like that should have close watching in the first few days, but you do still have some time to change things and watch results before you have to actually leave.


No matter what you do, you could run a test before you leave: fill up the feed and water, then let them go the right number of days before you add any more. Of course you would be checking on them regularly, and if any real problems arise you would fix them, but it lets you know what (if anything) you need to change. For example, I've seen cases where a waterer or feeder works great until it gets a certain amount empty, and then it has a problem. (Example: it's made of plastic and gets knocked over & spilled when 3/4 empty, so it doesn't really last as many days as I think it should.)

 

[Raubkatze]

Other than the chicks there's no issue with your plans, we just load up the waterer and feeders and they stay in the run while we're away.

The chicks do make things a bit more difficult. What's your current integration plan? It might sound aggressive but depending on your temperatures I'd start integrating them now. I'd be okay leaving 4 week old chicks that were fully off heat and integrated with the adults for a few days, but only if both those points have been addressed.

I wasn't planning on integrating them until 6 weeks. My brooder is pretty big. My last bunch lasted in there until 8 weeks and then I absolutely had to kick them out because they were out of room. First time around I kept them in for so long because we were still getting some overnight temps in the 20s. Now we are solidly in the 70s during the day and 60s overnight, with some days even reaching low 80s, so I figured 6 weeks would be a good spot where they would be big enough to hold their own as well as fully feathered.