What do you do when on vacation?????

[CathyB]

Vacation, that's funny! We really neer trusted anyone to watch the girls for more than a weeked and made sure before we left that they were so stocked up they would have to do nothing.

Then we decided to go away for a whole week this past July. I was not worried and booked my vacation. With my sister a 5 minute drive and my inlaws next door I was not worried. Well.....our vacation landed the same week as that terrible HOT streak were temps with heat index went up to like 110 degrees. Lets just say, this past July I lost 3 hens. I was too far away to come home, vacation was paid for, and was nothing I could do. If I was here would it have happened??? Easy to say no....but who knows. Was a very sad vacation for me indeed. What was worse was they do not know my girls like I do and I had to spend about 3 days before comming home not knowing for sure which of my babies did not make it. One of them was my sweet girl in my avatar pic. It was the week of my birthday too..........

I am not trying to scare you, but if I ever wanted to go away for a whole week again it would be early spring or fall so there would be no extreme weather. Tha is the advice I am giving.

 

[effie]

We just left ours for 15 days-The neighbor came and gathered eggs everyday and checked their food and water. I had them on complete lockdown in a new bigger,nicer coop. The usually free-range every day so I knew this would stress them out. I went to tractor supply and got a flock block.It was the smartest thing I did. They really pecked away at it and my daughter had to get another one right before we came home. I have 16 hens and a roo so they worked it over. I really feel it kep them from being bored and pecking at each other. It is the size of a salt block for livestock and is full of all kinds of grains. They loved it. Lockdown is better than worrying about something happening to them while you are gone.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
I have no idea what a "Vacation" is. I think I use to have them at one time before marriage/kids/mortage/etc. Now I have what would be called a "working staycation". All my time off is spent at home fixens and buildings stuff. Cutting firewood, hunting, gardening, chicken chores. An then there is this thing called a "honeydew" list!

 

[bleith]

Paid a neighbor $10 a day to check on them twice and let them out to range for about an hour. They didn't mind and their kids loved it

They said it was a lot easier than taking care of the neighbors dogs that they were watching at the same time

 

[donrae]

I didn't realize we were so lucky. My fil comes over twice a day, tosses hay to the horses, tops off the chicken's feed if they're low, and checks everyone's water. The dogs and cats have large amounts of food out for them to free-feed all the time, and so do the chickens usually. Snake only eats once a week and can go longer if we need. Easy peasy. Now, when we return the favor for him, that man has like a THOUSAND potted plants that each need to be watered daily in the summer. Grr!

For those of you who don't know anyone, I'd suggest getting ahold of a local 4-H or FFA leader. Those kids usually have animal experience, the older ones have their own transportation or the younger ones often have parents who have animal experience and are willing to drive them so the kids can earn a few bucks. Plus, you might inspire someone to fall in love with chickens! Everyone needs an enabler lol.

 

[Beekissed]

For a week? Nothing much except leave out more food and more water than usual. Same with the dogs. They all free range together and are very self-reliant. I've done this several times without any mishaps at all.

 

[anderson8505]

What is this word "vacation" you speak of? I'm not familiar with it.

 

[Ole rooster]

Agreed Anderson. What's dat. No, I don't go anywhere. I'm just about as happy as I can be staying home. I like it here, I like the animals, I like taking care of the animals, I don't have children screaming at me to go somewhere, and I do not trust anyone to protect my chickens like I will. I'm content with what I have and the responsibilties I've assumed. I've seen all I care to see of the mess others have made and to me it's all a waste of time and hard earned money. Anyway whose gonna milk my cow and churn the butter?

 

[Aria]

We usually go for 4 days. We leave the Chickens in the Barn and open the run. Leave food and water and they have always been fine.

I think if we went for a week....we might try the same. Regards, Aria

 

[McKenley5]

Neighbor kid (she is 12) and we brought her a souvenier back. We had her check on them once per day and top off food and water.