Newbie chicken owner and travel question

[Chickmamajessica]

Question! I’m a newbie chicken owner and didn’t even think about them when I booked a hotel for a night out of town. We will be gone for basically 2 days. I have 8 chickens that will be 10 weeks old by then. How do you go about traveling once you had chickens? Would they be ok if I left them in their coop for that duration as long as they had plenty of water and food? Or do I need them to be able to go out in their run during the day still? I’m wondering if I could just put a lock in the outside of the run and let them go in and out of their coop? My husband needs to predator proof the bottom of the run prior but other than that would it be safe to let them go in and out of their coop as they please? I have automatic feeders and waterers in the run and also have food and water I can put in their coop too. They are really good about going into their coop at night. But the coop size is 5x5’ and the run is 5x16’

 

[WIchickMama]

I couldn't chance it, but that is just me (I might also be a helicopter mom sometimes to my human children). I have come to the conclusion that I won't travel anymore unless I can find someone (hopefully another chicken owner) to help out when I want to travel.

 

[BeccaRecca13]

Good Morning!
I gave my mother 5 chickens about 2 weeks ago. She immediately put them in the coop for coop training. We built a nice open run for them and put it together 1 night before she was leaving on a weeks vacation. She left her coop door open with the access to the run and left a full container of water and full container of feed.
I went over and checked on them every 2-3 days. They had half a container of food left and half a container of water. They did good. They went in the coop every night on the roost and then came back out in the morning when the sun came up. If you are confident in your predator proof coop/chicken run, then I wouldn’t see a problem. If they are going in at night right now without assistance, then they should do the same even with the door open.
You could always get the automatic door on Amazon which opens and closes at a specific time everyday.

 

[Chickmamajessica]

I couldn't chance it, but that is just me (I might also be a helicopter mom sometimes to my human children). I have come to the conclusion that I won't travel anymore unless I can find someone (hopefully another chicken owner) to help out when I want to travel.

What are your biggest concerns about leaving them?

 

[Chickmamajessica]

Good Morning!
I gave my mother 5 chickens about 2 weeks ago. She immediately put them in the coop for coop training. We built a nice open run for them and put it together 1 night before she was leaving on a weeks vacation. She left her coop door open with the access to the run and left a full container of water and full container of feed.
I went over and checked on them every 2-3 days. They had half a container of food left and half a container of water. They did good. They went in the coop every night on the roost and then came back out in the morning when the sun came up. If you are confident in your predator proof coop/chicken run, then I wouldn’t see a problem. If they are going in at night right now without assistance, then they should do the same even with the door open.
You could always get the automatic door on Amazon which opens and closes at a specific time everyday.

Oh that’s great news! Thank you! Yes, we won’t be gone that long so I didn’t think It would be that bad. But I didn’t really know what to think about it all. If I get my husband to predator proof the run at the bottom, I’ll probably just do what you shared

 

[WIchickMama]

What are your biggest concerns about leaving them?

Predators, people "taking them" or them getting sick.

 

[Folly's place]

We always have a friend and/ or neighbor check on them daily, and keep them in a very safe coop, no access to places predators could enter.
Full feeders, waterers that can't be accidently emptied, all good.
I don't see enough ventilation in that closed coop area, BTW, especially with the door to the 'run' closed.
Mary

 

[Chickmamajessica]

Predators, people "taking them" or them getting sick.

I hear you on that. We plan to use a passcode lock so no one can steal them. And I believe ours will be predator proof, which just leaves sickness. I guess mine have been super healthy so far so I haven’t been too concerned.

 

[Chickmamajessica]

We always have a friend and/ or neighbor check on them daily, and keep them in a very safe coop, no access to places predators could enter.
Full feeders, waterers that can't be accidently emptied, all good.
I don't see enough ventilation in that closed coop area, BTW, especially with the door to the 'run' closed.
Mary

That’s smart to have a friend look over them. I think I might have someone who would be willing to help.
Im worried about the waterers because for some reason, they haven’t figured out how to refill from the ones from tractor supply, so we have had several other options.l, but they could potentially be tipped over.

I guess this picture doesn’t show our ventilation but it is fully ventilated on 3/4 walls. There is only one wall that doesn’t have ventilation because of drafts. But thank you for bringing that up!

 

[Tclloyd0812]

Personally, my husband and I cannot leave due to the fact that we have about 90-100 chickens and lots of other animals (definitely can't leave the emus unattended), and we haven't ever left our home for more than just a few hours for the past 2 years. All of our family lives in Texas still, and the nice people we've made friends with out here all have their own farms to tend to or they're all 65+ with health issues. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to trust anyone with my animals (including my chickens) because at the end of the day, no one knows how to take care of your flock like you.

A real life example of this occurred to my grandparent in laws a few months ago when they came up here to visit. They had left their neighbors that had watched their chickens before in charge to put the chickens up at night and collect eggs. They had an automatic waterer and feeder so they didn't even have to feed them. The coop was predator proof, but the neighbors didn't put the chickens up until after dark one night, and a raccoon or possum took off with 2 of their girls. They have a smaller flock like you so 2 out of 10 is a big deal. To make matters even worse, the neighbors also didn't collect eggs for a few days and they came home to a lot of broken, nasty eggs in their nesting boxes. This was the 2nd time this same problem happened to them, but the other time was their other grandson watching them. He went out with his girlfriend one night and didn't put them up on time and predators took advantage.

That being said, don't shy away from going on your trip. It seems like you won't be gone long, you have a small flock, and you can always do what others mentioned above and get an automatic door and even a camera. If you do leave someone to watch your flock, I would pick someone you know for sure is really responsible and will do what they need to do. Otherwise, expect mistakes/accidents to happen. Like I said above, no one knows your chickens like you do.