what do you do with the chooks when YOU go on holidays?

newmum · **Joined:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:35 pm **Posts:** 33

HI all,

Just wondering, do any of you go away on holidays and struggle to have reliable neighbours/friends/family to look after the chooks? I came home today from only 2 days away to find chooks locked up in the coop with mouldy off scraps IN the coop, no grain and no water

.... also a toy bat on the run roof ?do they force them to go inside???

I'm considering locking them up in the coop/run for the weekend in future - just need to get a reliable water source.... and I guess they'd eat all the scraps in the first hour and then just make do with grain??

I dread to think what happens if we go away for longer though??

Thanks in advance, love to hear what you all do....

Bells · **Joined:** Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:29 am **Posts:** 37

It's a vexed issue. We once had my father in law come and stay for a week and all he did was lecture me on our return about my chicken keeping skills. He had not listened to me at all about how I feed them and so didnt know where our feed was kept etc. bad form.

Now we go away for only a few days at a time and the set up is such that they are more or less self sufficient as long as someone can check on them once every day or so for food.

It's hard.

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

There are professional pet sitters who come and look after your pets at home, you know feed them, walk the dog, empty the kitty litter etc if you can't put them in boarding kennels.

They are rather eggspensive, costing between $30-$50 per day depending on the services you want, always check their references and talk to people who have used their service.

originbreed · **Posted:** Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:12 pm

if you want a holiday go out and sit with your chickens for a couple of hours.
sit and watch them with a glass of wine and you will feel totally rejuvinated.
or
get the biggest feeder and waterer you can build or buy. they wont gorge themselves.
make sure you know how long the food and water will last and thats how long you can go away for.

Katy · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:04 am

You could do a dry run a couple of week before you go by just feeding them the once for that week and see how they go with their food and water :-D

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Katy wrote:

You could do a dry run a couple of week before you go by just feeding them the once for that week and see how they go with their food and water :-D

Would the water go icky?

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

Petite Poulet wrote:

Would the water go icky?

no not in a week = so long as it was IN the shade the whole day

Elle Jay · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:02 pm

Like Petite Poulet, I was going to suggest a pet sitter too. I haven't tried using a pet sitter myself, but I would consider it if I had no-one to look after my chooks and cats. So far I've been lucky, I have a reliable neighbour (we look after each other's pets) and between her and my Dad we've managed fine so far.

When we build our new house I want to build a bigger chook house and run, so that when we go away they can stay in there comfortably. I find the biggest hassle when we go away is having someone there at the right time each evening to lock the chooks in their house. If you try to put them away too early, they won't go (we can do it, but I don't expect my neighbour to chase them around the yard!) and I don't like the idea of their door being open after dark. I have heard of automatic doors, but I don't know if they work okay. I think they cost about $100 too!

As far as a water supply goes, we have a good setup that wasn't expensive at all. We have a large plastic tub of water which sits on top of the chook run roof (which is quite low). We used the bottom section of an old large hooded cat litter box and hubby made a timber lid to fit it, to keep the water clean. I also put Avi-Clens from Planet Poultry in the water as well to help keep it clean. He cut a hole in a bottom corner of the plastic tub, put in a plastic tap (from Bunnings, the kind made for water tanks etc.) attached some hose with an in-line filter, then attached that to a purpose-made chicken drinker with a float valve. We got ours online from Brookfield Poultry Equipment, here is the link, as you can see there are a number of different types:

http://www.brookfieldpoultryequipment.c ... d=206&r=41

If you are interested let me know and I can take some photos of the set up. It works really well and the chooks took to the cup drinker straight away.

newmum · **Joined:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:35 pm **Posts:** 33

Thanks so much everyone, no immediate long holidays planned as yet but planning ahead so I don't need to ask 7 year old neighbours to continue doing a really bad job on the odd weekend away (sorry maddie

).

Elle Jay - I found the automatic door on this website - $250 :shock:

, solar powered and looks great. Not sure I'm that serious though. I figure that they already get a MUCH improved life even just in my little coop/run compared with your average chook so I won't feel too guilty occasionally locking them up.

Just need to get the water source happening so will get onto that.

Are there any members out there from southern suburbs Sydney that want to do a mutual arrangement??????? As I said, no immediate plans, just thinking ahead....

Katy · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:35 am

Quote:

Are there any members out there from southern suburbs Sydney that want to do a mutual arrangement???????

Thats a good idea and you would know they are in good hand with another chooky lover

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