I've done everything from hire a teenager to a professional "pet sitter". We've used the latter for the last couple of time we've gone away for extended periods--she comes in once a day and feeds cats and feeds chickens and takes eggs--costs us $20 a day. If we go away for overnight--say Fri morning to Sat. evening--I don't have anyone. The cats don't need to be fed or let out, we just leave enough dry food and clean litter boxes and the feeders/waterers hold enough food/water for a couple of days. I even left our week-old chicks for a couple of days with this arrangement and they were fine. I do keep the birds in lockdown for the duration, however, as there is no way I want someone, other than myself or my wife, being responsible for making sure they are locked in for the night. They're always happy to see me when I get back and that's usually the first place I go after unloading the car.
My worst experience was with a teenage son of a friend who I hired to take care of our chickens for a week while we were on an extended trip. At the time I was raising Cornish-X's for meat. It was in August and one of those 90+ degree heat waves hit. Poor kid didn't know what to do as the darn chickens started keeling over from the heat--just garbage bagged them. Lost about 10 of the 25. That was about 20 years ago and every time I see the kid I remind him about it. I think his parents felt worse about it than I did. I'm sure I could have save them but he had no experience--was before cell phones so no way he could have contacted me. Morale: be prepared for the unexpected.
The problem... every time we try to go an emergency come up and we have to cancel.
