Vacation

[nes]

After much himing & hawing, I'm putting my foot down & I'm going to fix up the shed today & start looking for a pair of layers

.

1 Question though:

We are planning a week's vacation up to our cottage. It may be possible to find someone to look in on our chickens but probably not. I have been snooping around the site a bit, how stressful is it on chickens to travel with them in the car?? (It's about 3 hours and we'd have all our dogs, kids & probably a cat or two with us)

If I take them away from their home for a week will they stop laying for me for a month?

It would certainly be easy enough to take them with us then keep them in a dog crate on a nice shady patch of flat land up at the cottage for that week - would that be suitable?

We're also planning quite a few weekend trips, but from what I've seen as long as their run/shed is well re-enforced and they have lots of food & water they should be okay for 2 days.

Maybe I should just buy chickens after our week-long vacation?

 

[Mahonri]

Personally, I'd keep them at home and let someone else look after them. yes they'd be fine for two days... but not for a week.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Hard as it is to wait, it's would be kinder to the chickens.

 

[nes]

I've already waited 2 years, a few more months couldn't hurt.

Taking a week up at the cottage is a normal thing for us to do.

I think I'll see if I can find someone to take care of the chickens.

A friend of mine does have ducks - could I bring them over to her place for the week?

Or do chickens and ducks not mix?
(total chicken newbie...)

I guess she could keep them in the dog crate or an extra horse-stall for a week instead of putting them IN with the ducks.

But again - if I move them for a week will the stop laying?

 

[fiberart57]

Hello,
Yes, if you move them, which stresses them, quite likely they'll stop laying temporarily. If they're in good shape, they should pick back up.

Travel with chickens is possible but not recommended.

I found a wonderful pet sitter by going to my vet's office and letting them know I was looking for someone. One of the part-time office girls, a former 4-H participant, called me and she was hired. She's been wonderful. Sometimes putting out these thoughts into the universe has good results.

Chickens can be left alone for a short period of time but too many things could go wrong. The biggest worry is predation but following that is problems with their water. I know of people who leave theirs for three days at most but someone usually comes and checks up on them

Good luck and have a great vacation.

Mary

 

[nes]

Tx Mary.

How long is temporarily?

A week? A day? A month?

Or is it impossible to know with out knowing the individual chicken?

I think we're looking at most likely getting sussex - but I really haven't decided (it depends largely on what is available in our area).

So a more docile chicken.

 

[Chick CJ]

It's almost certain they will stop laying if you take them with you. For how long really is an individual chicken thing. Sometimes it's a week, sometimes it's as long as a month. In my experience chickens are not really a "travelling" pet. I suspect that if you take them over to a friends it is still the equivalant of moving them and will have the same effect on them.

There is nothing wrong with you going away on trips if you have chickens. Before we go I make sure I clean out the coop/run. Fill up a three gallon waterer and their feed. We have an automatic pop door set on a timer so they can be safe at night and come out first thing in the morning. Then I have someone I trust come and check on them regularly, take in the eggs, change the water every three days (unless it is really hot out then they need to check it more often), make sure the feeder stays full and if I am gone longer than three or four days, clean out the coop. Which is a relatively simple job as I have a removable board under the roost. All of that really only takes a few minutes and we usually have a boy from down the street do it. Of course things can go wrong and I realize I am ultimately the responsible one so when they do go wrong I do not blame him. I actually think our neighbor boy does a better job than my friends or family because he is more conscientious of his job and takes it seriously.

In my opinion having chickens is easier than a dog or cat if you have to travel as they really do not need your undivided attention for long periods of time and you don't have to take them with you or put them in doggy care while you are gone.

This is my experience and I'm sure others have different ones.

CJ

 

[toletiquesbysam]

We travel numerous weekends out of town during the summer months. I put the chickens in lockdown and have a 5gallon feeder full of food, and 2 5gallon waters full and they stay in the coop the entire weekend. If it's an extremely hot weekend I have the neighbor come and let them out on Saturday morning and then lock them back up that night.
We also leave for 2 longer vacations 10days, and those we do make sure and have someone come and let them out daily and change water as needed. We have more than chickens that needed fed so the longer vacations it is a must we have help!

 

[teach1rusl]

I would think travel anywhere (your friend's house or your vacation house) would disrupt their laying for a few weeks. So if you're willing to deal with that, and can't find somebody to stop by to care for your birds, then do it. Ideally, as others have suggested, you'll find someone who'll stop by for a few minutes once or twice a day (depending on whether your run is very secure, including the top) to check water (make sure there's plenty and it's not funky) and food, to make sure everything is secure, and to collect eggs if they're of laying age. With the economy the way it is, it seems like there'd be quite a sure teens or even adults who would be willing to make a few bucks for such a simple task. I usually get a friend's college aged daughter to just housesit for me. She likes having her own place for a week, and I like knowing everything is somewhat "normal" at home. But she also cares for my cats and (typically) dogs too.

 

[Lorije1]

I would think if your vacation is far enough away to give the chicks time to grow to "outside" age, you could go ahead and get them. I don't think it would be fair to take them away from what they know - be it the vacation cottage or a friend's house though. If you go on the vacation every year, you know now to plan an easy, low maintenance coop. Maybe look into some of the waterers here on BYC that have the PVC pipes, etc? (Those are just so cool). An easy to refill feeder ( Maybe even refillable from outside the run / coop in case your sitter is "chicken" ) and a poop pit / board.