What to pay a 10 year old chicken/duck sitter in West Michigan?

[HeatherMo]

We want to do family camping over a long weekend. Not easy when you have birds who need you. I think I found a sitter right across the street. Farm country here. Great opportunity to introduce myself to the neighbors (we’ve been here 3 years!). They have farm animals and I asked if their 5th grade daughter might want the job on the occasion when we get out of town, they said, yes! Coming over tomorrow so I can show them around the coop and run. What would you pay a 10 year old per day to open and shut the chicken coop, refill water and food as needed, plus 2 ducks that need their kiddie pool dumped and refilled every day or so? I was thinking $5-10 a day since shes right across the street and the work probably will take less than 20 minutes a day. Thoughts?

 

[FluffTheDuck]

$5 sounds best. I would take that for the max.
When I was a kid I got paid $3 a day for dogsitting 3 dogs over 2 blocks away and I spent most of my day there. Not to mention I dogsat for 1 month and they STILL didn't even raise the prices a bit at all!
But i was thankful because i love dogs. And if you're wondering HOW long ago was it was not that far away, like, at all. Not even a decade

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I would do the $10 a day. My sitter is an adult or her children but I pay $10 a visit, so $20 a day for letting them in and out and changing water. If your neighbor girl does a good job and you want her to do it again, you will be glad you paid the higher amount.

 

[Wolfefarmyard]

I agree $10 is fair.

 

[bluemerle]

Think about it per hour: if the work takes <30 minutes to do (someone who is not used to the routine might take longer) and she has to visit twice, then that's an hour of work. If you pay her $5 a day, you're paying $5/hr.

It gets more complicated if letting them out takes a short amount of time and putting them up takes a longer amount of time .... but generally I'd agree with @cheezenkwackers : paying a little more is worth it if she does a good job.

 

[HeatherMo]

$5 sounds best. I would take that for the max.
When I was a kid I got paid $3 a day for dogsitting 3 dogs over 2 blocks away and I spent most of my day there. Not to mention I dogsat for 1 month and they STILL didn't even raise the prices a bit at all!
But i was thankful because i love dogs. And if you're wondering HOW long ago was it was not that far away, like, at all. Not even a decade

Not trying to date myself here but I was given $3/hour for babysitting well over 2 decades ago. I have 2 kids now, ages 11 and 7, and we rarely go anywhere so I rarely need a babysitter, but I never know what’s fair. I’m not a wealthy person, but I don’t want to be that cheap ass who gave me $10 in the early 90’s for babysitting their spoiled disrespectful kids for 4 hours either. Not long ago I hired a teenager to watch my kids (2) for about 4-5 hours while I was at a wedding. She took a friend. I think I handed over well $50 which seems generous to me. Later I was very embarrassed to find out that her mother (a friend of mine) matched my payment because I was being cheap (I guess?) She was 15 without much experience, and I was fine with the friend but it wasn’t really necessary for 2 kids). Kids these days just expect more and I never feel like I have a good idea of what is normal pay for these things.

 

[chrissynemetz]

I would go with the $10 a day.

 

[ezeo]

are you letting her keep the eggs? Factor that into the payment too. a dozen eggs + $5 is not bad for 20 minutes of work.

 

[Jpat]

if its 3 days she has to check then give her her 50$

 

[ocap]

Ask her, so she is content with the salary, tip if the waterers are full when you return