Vacations and Chickens

[cherrynberry]

Make sure there is no where they can get into

 

[rosemarythyme]

As long as you know you're good on food and water and ventilation they should be fine for 3 days. Best if possible to have someone check in on them, but short of some unforeseen disaster they should be fine.

 

[Acre4Me]

At 8 weeks they should do fine. There are no eggs to worry about collecting. If you have predators, I’d just lock them in the coop for the 3 days since they would have food/water/and a fan to cool them down. Have a good trip.

 

[Countrylovexx]

We often leave ours for weekend camping trips. As long as you supply enough water and food and they can’t dirty it, they’ll be fine!

 

[blacklab]

Any main predators

Haven't seen any yet - only been out 4 nights/days. Our whole property is also fenced.

 

[blacklab]

We often leave ours for weekend camping trips. As long as you supply enough water and food and they can’t dirty it, they’ll be fine!

Yay! Thanks! I think we'll give it a try. They don't seem to want to come out of the coop when we open the door to the run in the morning, so they should be pretty happy in or out of the coop while we are away.

 

[blacklab]

At 8 weeks they should do fine. There are no eggs to worry about collecting. If you have predators, I’d just lock them in the coop for the 3 days since they would have food/water/and a fan to cool them down. Have a good trip.

Thanks so much! I'm feeling much better about leaving the "babies" now!

 

[blacklab]

I do it all the time. I would put feed in several locations that are not going to get rained on., Same for water. I usually try to make sure I have several water jugs - both of these things I do just in case something happens to one of the feeders. ( If you use the large feeders that use pressure to push the feed into the channel... in NC the moister/humidity causes it to clog up. ) on the other hand if you use a feeder where the food tips over, if you have wire, of course all the food is gone. So it makes me feel better to use many feeders and water jugs. f you are leaving one morning, you know they have enough for food for the day you leave, then the next day you are pretty sure there is still some there, the only thing that can happen is the third day.. for ONE day they may not have food, the third day when you get home check them and if they are out you would just feed them. How old are they?

Thanks so much!

 

[3KillerBs]

Make absolutely sure they can't dump the waterer.

My 9-week-old girls were so agitated about being kept in the coop until after lunch because I had to pick up the electric fence and mow -- which I couldn't do until the grass was dry enough -- that they knocked over the waterer that I thought was too heavy to be dislodged.

 

[Double Yolked]

You can do it.
My waterer lasts my flock 4-5 days, I prefer to change it more often but it will last 4-5 days. My feeder is a DIY feeder I made myself using this design.

And it will last 2 weeks before needing refilling. You can find patterns for this on the net all over the place and their easy to make.
I asked a neighbor who likes chickens to check on them at least once or twice if I have to be gone and tell them to help themselves to the eggs while I'm gone. With that payment, I never have any problems getting someone willing to watch the flock!