vacation

[fratmor]

so I've had my chickens for 5 months and now I will be going away for the holidays for 1week. what to do with my chickens .I need help with this !what do you guys do when you go away .or have i given up my vacation time for the next 1o years.

 

[suzettex5]

I personally pay a petsitter 25 bucks a day to come once a day and count heads, fill feeders, and check waters. I also give any eggs collected to her as a bonus.

If I am gone only a couple days (3 or less) I know the water will be fine since it a constant flow waterer, but I will add 1 extra feeder, fill up all feeders to the tip top, and also add a flock block in the run.

I also add a few squash to the run, those sometimes take more than a day to get eaten. My flock also has free access to free range areas, so they will never really run totally out of all available food.

I would have to say, if your gone a full week, you might want to consider having someone come over and care for them. Leave a very detailed list of feed- how much, what kind, how often, and how many birds you have, and what time they need to be in at night. Always let a caregiver know if you may have ANY predator problems, just in case, it may help them to know what to look out for, as well as keep them on their toes when it comes to caring for your flock.

I hope this helped!

 

[Mahonri]

Get a trusted neighbor.

You know here in an urban area, so few even know their neighbors anymore.
Glad we have trusting neighbors.

 

[tammyd57]

I swap animal sitting duties with my brother. We are already familiar with each others' animals and how many, and what and when they eat and so forth.
They go to 3 day bluegrass festivals and I go over daily and feed all his chickens, rabbits, cats and dog and make sure they are all okay. When I leave for more than 2 days he comes over and fixes my toilet and feeds my animals. Pretty good trade off if ya ask me.

 

[onthespot]

Maybe set them up with a week of food and water, and have someone check on them daily. I just got back from a five day vacation and had a friend care for my hundred plus birds. I completely topped them off and she only had to change water twice and feed once while I was gone. I paid her $75.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Vacation?What vacation?Sounds wonderful.
No seriously when I had that luxury I paid my son to take care of the animals.
I hope you enjoy your vacation and get things worked out.

 

[fratmor]

thanks to all the responses,my kids will becoming with me so they are out. I neighbors that I know think I'm crazy

for having chickens. Thats unheard of in NYC.They don't know it yet but I'm starting a new treand.

.I just hope it doesn't snow to much chirstmas week and my mom will come.(she had chickens as a child)so I'm only a little crazy to her:yiipchick:

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
About what we do. Just make sure the chickens are in lock down for the duration. We've gone away for 2 weeks under this condition with no problems except the girls are really happy when we get back and they can go outside again. The gal we hire also does out cats.

 

[bufforp89]

you still get to go on vacation? I dont ever go, with 200+ birds in the spring and 4 dogs I doubt that there is a petsitter that would take us on....I think its vacation enough that everyone else is gone myself......I dont mind staying behind, its just like a vacation!

 

[dsqard]

I agree with the petsitter idea. My DH and I went away for a long weekend. Would have been impossible if we didn't have someone watching the animals. I left very detailed instructions for the girl (girlfriend of one of the guys we work with and has experience with horses) and she did an awesome job. She is more fastidious about the stalls than I am (was surprised that it was even possible) and came home to a bunch of happy animals. I would say try to find someone you know who is trustworthy and pay them well. She didn't ask for money but taking care of 8 chickens, 5 horses and 3 dogs is some work. I paid her $75 for the four day weekend and would happily have her do it again if we go away again. It was very nice not to have to worry about anyone running out of food or water.