Pet Sitting Service. UPDATE LOCATIONS listed in post #1

[chickensducks&agoose]

122 chickens - feed and make sure that they have fresh water. Pick eggs in nesting boxes. $20

21 ducks - feed and make sure that they have fresh water. Pick eggs in nesting boxes. Change water in 4 kiddie pools $10

6 Barbado sheep – feed and make sure that they have fresh water. Make sure that they have hay. $10

9 geese - feed and make sure that they have fresh water (if they're not like MY geese) $10

6 barbado sheep - feed and make sure that they have fresh water $5 (are these the same sheep?)

10 rabbits - feed and make sure that they have fresh water $5

1 pygmy goat - feed and make sure that they have fresh water $5

15 stray cats - feed and make sure that they have fresh water $5

Close all chicken coops at night and open up in the morning.
All feed will already be prepared and labeled and in 5 gallons buckets.

What would you charge to do this?


I'm up to 70, plus you have 2 trips out, so I don't think that 75 is crazy...

 

[NellaBean]

Wow, you do have a full time farm there. I would probably charge the same or more to do all of that.

I have:

4 dogs (all kept crated indoors, 3 big, 1 small)
1 cat (indoor only, needs pills 2x daily)
100+ chickens
11 ducks

My petsitter has to come, let the dogs out to do their business, give fresh water and feed them at night
Cat gets a pill in morning and a pill in evening, plus a can of food each time. Litterbox scooped daily.
Chickens are let out of coops in morning and locked up evening. I have a "main coop" and the chickens get the run of the fenced yard during the day. I have a rooster coop and pen in the back of the garage. I have some smaller broody pens and things I just leave locked up while gone.

I try to make sure food and water is all full and so far have not been gone long enough to run out. I will leave buckets of food (with lids) marked next to the feeders for my labor day trip and a hose nearby for easy filling.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I have

1 dog (who stays at a neighbor's house for free... YAY!)
1 cat (who stays inside and has a feeder and a waterer and cat box, and can go for 5 days without human intervention)
12 ducks
3 geese
3 turkeys
24 meaties
20 Laying hens.


My petsitter gets $20 a day, which includes locking the birds up at night, but not wrangling any, and letting them out in the am... plus she takes all the eggs. I make sure food is full and i fill up jugs/buckets of water and place them near respective pens to make things easier. it really takes about 10 minutes in the morning, and 10 minutes at night, so I consider her well paid.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Set up automatic waterers for all animals. Not cheap, but less than the $75 per day spread out over vacation would be. Then you can change half the instructions to simply making sure that everyone's waterer is working. Depending on hte time it takes to feed the animals, you may still be looking at $30 or so per day.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes it is a FULL time job.

The morning duties take about 30 minutes but that is because I have been doing it for years. Morning chores include feeding and opening the chicken coops. Fresh water is already in all waterers and pools from the night before. This may take someone new about 45 - 60 minutes.

The evening chores take about 1 1/2 hrs for me so, this may take someone new 2 - 2 1/2 hrs because the evening chores include feeding, dumping all dirty waterers and filling with fresh water, changing the water in all 4 kiddie pools, picking eggs and just walking around making sure that there weren't any injuries during the day.

Chicken Coops are not closed until about 8PM.

So, you all are all right. That is not a bad price to pay. After paying $75.00 a day for 4 days which is $300.00, I won't have any money to come back from vacation. Money is all gone on a pet sitter!!!!

So much for taking a vacation huh?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

That's when you find a like-mannered friend and exchange services with each other.

 

[showmesilkies]

I do pet & home sitting and there is always a host of questions to both the provider (me) and the client. Everyone is different. I wish I had more people around Central Missouri who wanted my services for poultry and farm animals. Check out my website if you like www.showmecrittercare.com

 

[silkeysandra]

We found a petsitter here in Arlington Texas who will feed our hens when we are away. Our main concern was to find a petsitter who was not afraid of our adult iguana (a real sweety) and she was it! She is skittish with the hens so when we are gone on our mini-vacations, just 4-day trips mostly, she feeds them and checks the water system. She won't enter the pen to collect eggs tho. She will visit them once or twice depending on our wishes for $17 per house visit. We are very happy with her. She is bonded and is affiliated with a national pet sitting chain. She and her family run the business, so sometimes another family member will handle our animals. My lizard seems to like her and her hubby just fine. The chickens really don't care as long as they have food and water for their stay in the pen. The day before we come back, I have her open the pen door that morning and leave it open so the girls can play. My daughter comes over that evening to collect eggs--just put in a bowl and refrigerate. (I clean and inspect them when we get home.) Daughter also checks the hens that evening and makes sure they are back in the pen that night and secured. We let them out when we get home. It's not an ideal arrangement, but fine for now. We are intending on moving to a more rural setting and hope to find a FFA teen who will handle the hens so they don't have to be confined when we are away.

 

[Jajika]

These are very good questions and it is important to know to whom you trust your pets.

I found my chicken sitter on Craigslist when I was fairly new owning chickens. I didn't ask all those questions, but I did get a reference from another chicken person.

I totally lucked out. My sitter asked me a very long list of questions. She was very professional and thorough. I've been using her for eight years now. She has taken care of brand new baby chicks, new adults and even very sick chickens. She saved one my chicken's lives. She tube fed her for ten days.

I've used her for two days and eight weeks when we were very, very far away and everything in between. I totally trust her.

I don't know what I'd do without her.

Just in case, if you live in the San Francsico Bay Area on the Peninsula, her business is called Aunt Effie's Pet Sitting Service and she takes care of chickens.

A good chicken sitter is worth gold.

Geri in Palo Alto

 

[Rebeccap422]

Quote:
Oh yea, you are ABSOLUTELY right about having someone over with your small babies and hubby not home. I totally understand. I have so many animals and it is too difficult to know everything which is why I have a binder with notes/information in it. The last time I left for 1 weekend and had my cousin watched the animals, 3 baby chicks died. I was fuming.

. This is why I am so picky. Something simple as closing the coops at night will be a nightmare for the pet sitter due to the fact that I have a few rowdy chickens/turkeys who prefer to roost on the fence, in the back of the truck, with the sheep, on top of the rabbit cage, on top of the steel post, etc. I have to shine the spotlight on the fence, barns, coops, sheds, truck beds, etc to make sure that everyone is in. Looks like I will have to train the kids who live next door and allow them to make some money. I have decided that one of the keys to making sure that everyone is in is to do a headcount. If all animals are not accounted for then the person needs to start looking for that particular animal until the head count is exact.

I guess that's what I get for having so many animals.

Too bad I don't live near you as I would love to help. I have watched some friends pets while they was gone and I even watered the plants along with putting the garage cans out and bringing them back in etc.

I agree that you have to be careful who you let watch your animals for you and they need to know how to take care of what you have properly. When I watch animals for people I make sure the animals have at least seen me once with the owners there and it is great if they leave me notes and make sure to dos etc. Like with yours, having a list of the headcounts and hints of where to look for the missing ones.

I hope you get it worked out.

Becky