Summer Holidays

[brianmac]

Hi Folks,
After much thinking, worrying, fretting and planning, finally we have chickens! They have only been with us for 3 weeks and seem to be settling in nicely, a small problem of feather pecking in the first week but that seems to be sorted now. The only problem I can see on the horizon is the summer holidays, who is going to look after the girls while we are away for 10 days? This got me thinking and I'm sure there must be like minded chicken folk in my area that may be having the same worries with the school holidays approaching. How about a local chicken looking after circle? I look after your chooks while you're away and you look after mine when I'm away? May take a bit of time to set up but I'm sure it would be worthwhile, so if you are in the east of Edinburgh and think this may be a good idea get in touch and let me know.
As a newbie I may ask you a lot of questions about chicken keeping but every one has to learn somehow.

Brian

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Brianmac and welcome to the forum. Good idea but the important thing is that the chickens are not moved for two reasons. First they don't like change and they would be moved twice. The resulting stress is likely to make them ill. Second the risk of cross-infection as yours may be carriers of something unknown to you and so might the chickens in the pen nearby unknown to their owner. I have seen a local breeder offering chicken lodging in a coop and run which carries the previouly mentioned problems but even worse, as many sets of chickens may have used those facilities. You may not find anyone with a spare coop and run anyway.

We used to get a neighbour to let them out, check feed and water, collect the eggs twice a day and lock them up. That was fine when we had one coop and run. But as time went on we got more chickens and we stopped asking when we had 5 coops and runs and stopped holidaying. Our last was France in 2008. Solved the problem now. We're going on holiday permanently and taking the little darlings with us!

 

[Stapfam]

I have neighbours and all the chooks need is Food and water and letting out and shutting up at night. One of the neighbours stood in for me when I went on holiday and he did a good job with minimal training. In Fact it was the lad of the family that got "Lumbered" with the job with dad just keeping an eye on things. The Lad got a fiver and Mum got all the eggs.

 

[Marigold]

I agree teenagers can do a good job, but do need training, written instructions, and adult backup available if there are problems. I expect my teenage keeper to do quite a lot more than just a quick visual check, feed and egg collection, and I get her to come round beforehand to help me with all my usual daily routines, cleaning the coop floor, picking up droppings, scrubbing out drinker, inspecting the flow of food in the feeder etc, as well as watching the hens for signs that any of them is off colour in any way. This basic work takes about 20 minutes a day, and i also ask her to do a quick check on them in the evening as well. Previously I've given her £15 for a weeks work, about 3 hours in total I expect, which is the local rate for teenage babysitters, but this summer it will be more as she will be taking on the care of my quails as well, and this is a new skill for her to learn. I'm lucky to have a reliable girl whose parents keep chickens and could help her if there were problems, but whoever you ask needs to be trained carefully in what you expect, not just a brief tour of where the food and water are are kept. This is in the interests of the sitter as well as the hens, so they feel capable and supported and able to relax and enjoy the task without worries. My teenager has my phone number and we can keep in touch by texts etc, which helps me to relax as well!