What Do You Do If You Leave Town?

[naomipoc]

Quote:
How do you get the chickens back into their run/coop after they free-range for an hour or so?

 

[laughaha]

Chickens- kiddie pools for waterers (I use them all the time for the chooks) their feeder holds a weeks worth of feed and they would just stay in a pen for the entire time with someone coming daily to gather eggs and check that everything is fine.

Cats- lots of food and water and they are fine for a couple of days (although REALLY annoyed that they were locked inside alone).
Dogs- go with us or get divided between the grandparents
Rabbits- I don't leave for more than a few hours in the summer. In the winter they are perfectly happy and would just need fresh water 2x daily and a daily feed and me hiding the BOSS from whoever is feeding them (they beg for BOSS REALLY well and it puts weight on flemish's FAST).

I don't leave for more than two days at a time- was gonna go to florida last month but I just couldn't leave for a whole week- I started worrying before I even bought the tickets.

 

[laughaha]

Quote:
How do you get the chickens back into their run/coop after they free-range for an hour or so?

feed them boss or oats (or whatever your chickens fav treat is) ONLY in the pen when you want them to go in. I can get 100 or so chickens in their pen easily with this method. They are all so worried that someone else will get more than they will that they all come running every time. It may help that I'm in there yelling WHERE'S THE BAAAAAAABIES and mine know it means treat time. I also don't always close the pen when I do this but I ALWAYS do the treats this way. Smart chickies will learn that treats equal locked in pen if you only do this when locking them in.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I concur with this plan. It's what I do. I ONLY give treats in the run, even if the entire flock has gathered around me as I step out the door and head towards the run. My call is "CHICKENS! I've got CHICKENS!" and they all know that call for treats. And chickens - and ducks - ARE smart enough to know if you only do that when you close 'em in the run, they won't go into it. I had to learn that.... luckily, only had 9 chickens at that point, and those Original Flock Members have since re-learned that treats are only given in the run, but the Treat Lady isn't as mean & sneaky as she used to be, and we should get in there if we want some of whatever she's giving to everybody else.

Since I rarely lock 'em up in the run now, those old experiences have faded away.

 

[chickenGRAFFITI]

Sometimes I take the chickens with me

 

[Keri78]

We went away for a week this winter...little did we know that the ENTIRE Northeast was about to be BURIED in over 2 ft. of snow!!! I have those big black rubber buckets(from the Tractor Supply)...I filled them full of feed(plenty for a week supply) and filled another with water. Obviously....the water buckets froze solid....but the chickens actually made out just fine eating the snow to hydrate them! My WONDERFUL neighbors came over and tarped the runs for me. This fall our goal is to roof all of the runs so this winter we'll be set! I told the neighbor that she was welcome to have as many eggs as they laid while we were gone!

Chickens are pretty self sufficient creatures...don't worry too much!