What not to do when you go on vacation....

[Indychick]

Quote:
ewe...last vacation in a long time....
i could not image...
loved your blog page!
i live 50 min north of indy.
i don't have my chicks yet, but have been recruiting trusted people to care for them when we go on vaca...which we do a lot!

my sitter (for my 2 boys) sits for our dog when we are gone..love her and trust her...so i am letting her name a chicken when they arrive and she will help when we are gone!

i am sure you could 'pay someone with eggs' when you are gone to come care for them, plus a little extra cash!

I think I am going to recruit a young neighbor of mine. Good idea about the eggs - I would give him a little cash and free eggs plus any veggies from the garden for his mom. When I was in middle school - it would have been a dream job!

I agree about the chicken babysitter's club. Although it might be easier to find a neighbor so the drive wouldn't be so tough for us here in the city!

 

[blueheaven]

Quote:
ewe...last vacation in a long time....
i could not image...
loved your blog page!
i live 50 min north of indy.
i don't have my chicks yet, but have been recruiting trusted people to care for them when we go on vaca...which we do a lot!

my sitter (for my 2 boys) sits for our dog when we are gone..love her and trust her...so i am letting her name a chicken when they arrive and she will help when we are gone!

i am sure you could 'pay someone with eggs' when you are gone to come care for them, plus a little extra cash!

I think I am going to recruit a young neighbor of mine. Good idea about the eggs - I would give him a little cash and free eggs plus any veggies from the garden for his mom. When I was in middle school - it would have been a dream job!

I agree about the chicken babysitter's club. Although it might be easier to find a neighbor so the drive wouldn't be so tough for us here in the city!

oh i would have loved that job in schoool...collecting egss/feeding chickens...

and for free eggs and a bit of money...who would not want to do it (a middle schooler or someone in high school)...easier than baby-sitting! good luck...keep me posted!

 

[krusti]

I have an automatic door and waterer. I have a friend that loves poultry and is more than happy to tend my flock when my wife and I are away. I pay a little cash and let him keep the eggs, which he gives to his friends and neighbors and I end up with more customers for my eggs.

 

[tn chick]

glad i found this althou im not sure what ill be doing we are going outta state to fix my sis rental house and we will be taking our family this is why we bought a trravel trailer 2 birds 2 cats and 3 dogs they all do with us its interesting my sister says its the funny farm on wheels now we have new family members 4 chickens so im telling my husband what will we do hes like well have so in so im like i dont think so then he says we can take them to so in sos and put in there coop im like NO they never clean up after there animals so he says smartly what do you want to do i suggested since the house is in the country we could make a temp cage for them and take um with us sounds good to me then i dont have to worry about my children

hey im all for a chicken sitters club wonder how well something like that would work, i mean they have dog and cat sitters??

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Quote:
Boy, do I wish it was this simple here.

At 7:30 AM the BARN door is opened and the crowd comes out. Then I go and let the ones from the wire mesh stalls out. Then the feeder comes down (rats are in the barn and it is a battle to get rid of them). Then the waterer has to be filled. Then the morning check up and count for particular chickens i am keeping an eye on.
Then a check on the broody hens (they are all seperated in cages).
Then I throw feed on the floor for those who insist on it before they go out for free range. Then I need to fill the feeders up.
At 7:30 or so PM, the broodies are checked again. the feeders go up, the chicken are all put in the wire mech stalls (by morning a good many are out). A quick count and check up while they are quiet. I have had some with respiratory problems. Collection of the eggs for the day. Medication for the few (poly vi sol) that are a bit under the weather and finally the closing of the barn door.

 

[tdgill]

Quote:
yeah, thats what i was thinking....

 

[farmin'chick]

You mean, this is NOT a VACATION???

 

[IN-farmgirl]

I recruited 2 neighbors to look after my chickens for 5 days! One did the morning and evening duty and the other made sure they were closed up at night. That way, I knew it wouldn't be too overwhelming for the first neighbor to have to go back a third time to close up at night.

They did have some trouble closing the waterer. She said it took her a long time before she realized she was trying to put it on upside down!!

They all did a great job...but it was a lot to ask! The first neighbor said to me..."I can see how you could get really attached to your chickens!" She seemed to really enjoy taking care of them!!!

 

[tn chick]

WoW IN-farmgirl
now thats a good idea, we have a friend that has cared for chickens in the pass who said he would help out.
its hard to find help that cares we have neighbors that last year were supposed caring for horses haha what a joke that was when i woke up in the morning to ponys pooping in my yard they never got them infact let them run wild for 4 days,they said they would help i was glad i could say thx but i have the chickens covered.

 

[kycklingmamma]

The few times we have gone out of town for a weekend or so our lovely neighbor James have taken care of our coop for us. He loves it and the girls don't mind him either. Well, the first time he was doing it they had just started laying so I still had some of those fake ceramic eggs in the nests, of course he didn't know so he took those in and was cooking breakfast the next day and could not for the life of him figure out why the shells were so hard. He even broke his bowl when he decided to give the egg one final wack. I laughed so hard when he called us to tell us...funny.
We thought about the extra feed and all and had hat ready so he wouldn't run out.

Kycklingmamma