What do you wish you had known before you got your chickens

[Katt66]

What's wrong? You don't like getting locked in the run... I have a gate at one end of my run that could be accessed from the street, and one day I noticed that one of my girls stopped laying because there were no eggs from her (she has stopped for the winter) so I put a padlock on it, locked it, then went to go back into the house.... Only then I realized that I entered through that gate that I just locked... Needless to say I was NOT calling any of the family members that thought I had a chicken problem for help....

lol! Too funny! Yeah, I just sorta sat there for a few minutes. Then I thought "eh, I haven't had more than five minutes of peace to myself for sixteen years, since my older daughter was born" One of them is always up my butt. I seriously can't go for long without hearing "Mommy!" So I figured within a few minutes one of the kids would come looking for me... ...I sat there for twenty minutes. Then stood up and yelled towards the house. One kid was in the shower and the other on her laptop with ear buds in so neither heard me. Hubby was out hunting and not due back for like an hour or so. Finally I sort of squeezed my hand between the plastic and edge of the screen door and managed to reach over and unlatch it. Went storming into the house yelling "I was locked in the chicken coop and nobody even cared!"... ...to an empty house. D: I could have been in there all night and apparently nobody would have even noticed. I feel soooo loved right now. XD

 

[Grannychick55]

Travel? What's that? It does not take many chickens to end your traveling. Lol

As long as you leave after you water and feed and are back on time to water and feed and put back up then you can be gone a few hours and that is with someone to check on them during the time you are gone

 

[newbie32]

As long as you leave after you water and feed and are back on time to water and feed and put back up then you can be gone a few hours and that is with someone to check on them during the time you are gone

I left mine for a full day to free range today! From 2-5! Woohoo. LOL they will need to get used to free ranging from 7-5 soon!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As long as you leave after you water and feed and are back on time to water and feed and put back up then you can be gone a few hours and that is with someone to check on them during the time you are gone

I mean REAL travel, not just for the day. Like I used to do - driving coast to coast, spending a month snow skiing in 5 European countries, two months volunteering with great green macaws in Costa Rica, sailing around the BVI.
It's hard to take a hundred chickens abroad with you.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I left mine for a full day to free range today! From 2-5! Woohoo. LOL they will need to get used to free ranging from 7-5 soon!

Mine free range every day - all day. They're virtually predator proof during the day - alert, fast and protective roosters. The one thing that still gets them is my neighbor's pack of 7 Malamute/Husky crosses.
I wouldn't mind the occasional loss to a hawk or fox - after all, they were here before me and my chickens but the dogs

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I mean REAL travel, not just for the day. Like I used to do - driving coast to coast, spending a month snow skiing in 5 European countries, two months volunteering with great green macaws in Costa Rica, sailing around the BVI.
It's hard to take a hundred chickens abroad with you.

I have often thought of that. If there is someone you really trust, you could pay them to care for your chickens. I thought of contacting a pet sitter to come twice a day, once to let them out and put out food and water and again at nightfall to check their coop food and water and lock them up. Theoretically it would work, but I still wouldn't go for long bec no one cares for my girls like I do, and it would be costly.

 

[jdoane]

I have often thought of that. If there is someone you really trust, you could pay them to care for your chickens. I thought of contacting a pet sitter to come twice a day, once to let them out and put out food and water and again at nightfall to check their coop food and water and lock them up. Theoretically it would work, but I still wouldn't go for long bec no one cares for my girls like I do, and it would be costly.

We have a nice little network of families that have backyard flocks who are always willing to trade off Chicken care during vacations or weekends away. We all only have about 5-6 so it's not the same as 100 but it's a nice thing to know someone who loves chickens is taking care of them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have often thought of that. If there is someone you really trust, you could pay them to care for your chickens. I thought of contacting a pet sitter to come twice a day, once to let them out and put out food and water and again at nightfall to check their coop food and water and lock them up. Theoretically it would work, but I still wouldn't go for long bec no one cares for my girls like I do, and it would be costly.

I have gone away for a few days a few times. Once the neighbors cared for them when I had fewer flocks. Once a friend from out of town came and house/chicken sat. He did ok but 2 chicks hatched a day before we left and he got them too warm and they died. I'm a co-organizer of a chicken meetup group with over 600 members with a chicken sitter group in it. However I live pretty far away from most of the people and with 8 groups of chickens, not to mention a hatcher running, it's too much to expect someone to handle for more than a couple days even if I paid them.
Most of the buildings have automatic food and water so I can go away as long as someone can open up, close up and check on them.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

We have a nice little network of families that have backyard flocks who are always willing to trade off Chicken care during vacations or weekends away.  We all only have about 5-6 so it's not the same as 100 but it's a nice thing to know someone who loves chickens is taking care of them.

Amen. Thanks. I hadn't thought of that. There are some in my neighborhood. I know one family and they probably know others. That would be perfect bec I would certainly be willing to trade out care.

 

[newbie32]

Mine free range every day - all day. They're virtually predator proof during the day - alert, fast and protective roosters. The one thing that still gets them is my neighbor's pack of 7 Malamute/Husky crosses.
I wouldn't mind the occasional loss to a hawk or fox - after all, they were here before me and my chickens but the dogs

I have a 6 ft fence that they cant get over. I do have to worry about my own dog.