I have a petsitter I use pretty regularly. First used her in April, I believe. Found her through a google search and she did a free introductory meet and greet.........that is the perfect way to get a "feel" for someone and also ask them tons of questions and see how they interact with your animals. My own pet care is a bit overwhelming. I have 4 indoor only dogs....1 cat that needs 2x daily meds, plus over 100 chickens (and now ducks). She isn't a farm sitter, but is willing to go out and lock the chickens up or let them out in the morning, assuming nothing attacks her or has to be "caught". I make sure there is plenty of food and water to last for the trip so she doesn't have to mess with that.
She charges me $18 per half hour visit. I consider that a STEAL considering how much work has to be done. But it still costs me $54 a day to go anywhere. My longest trip ever will be labor day. Leaving Thursday afternoon and coming back Sunday night. And now I've added 2 bunnies to the "family"....which will get the biggest water bottles and bowls of food ever for my next trip. The only problem I've had so far is that I didn't leave specific instructions on which pens to NOT open one visit and the rooster pen got opened up and a big rooster rumble happened while I was gone. Nobody died but one boy was pretty torn up. I can't blame her for that as it really is kind of confusing and she doesn't even HAVE to take care of the chickens if she doesn't want to. My solution to that is to padlock the pens I don't want opened in the future and make "cards" i can hang on the cages that say "DO NOT OPEN" or "OPEN FOR DAYTIME ONLY', etc.
She charges me $18 per half hour visit. I consider that a STEAL considering how much work has to be done. But it still costs me $54 a day to go anywhere. My longest trip ever will be labor day. Leaving Thursday afternoon and coming back Sunday night. And now I've added 2 bunnies to the "family"....which will get the biggest water bottles and bowls of food ever for my next trip. The only problem I've had so far is that I didn't leave specific instructions on which pens to NOT open one visit and the rooster pen got opened up and a big rooster rumble happened while I was gone. Nobody died but one boy was pretty torn up. I can't blame her for that as it really is kind of confusing and she doesn't even HAVE to take care of the chickens if she doesn't want to. My solution to that is to padlock the pens I don't want opened in the future and make "cards" i can hang on the cages that say "DO NOT OPEN" or "OPEN FOR DAYTIME ONLY', etc.