Single hen

[Margalot]

I am due to go away at Easter and wondered how long you have left your chooks alone for?

 

I have a cube with the 2m run attached and four hens, I know people say its ok to leave them with enough food/ water for a weekend but this is 4 days? Will I have to get a chook checker?

 

Very worried just dont want to come back to devastation or cannibalism!

[Cinnamon]

I have left mine for 4 day before, & came home to happy hens & LOTS of eggs

 

Mine are in a cube & a huge run, so I was confident that they would be fine. In fact I am doing the same again in Jult this year too

[SAB]

Heartening to hear Cinnamon. How much food and water would you recommend leaving for a 4 day period in July for 9 chickens?

[Willow]

The biggest problem in July is water if it's hot (on second thoughts that may not be too much of a worr ).

 

Sorry if this is obvious but to find out how much food and water to leave why not do a few trial runs with you putting out what you think they'll need and checking your chickens every day but not topping up food and water and see if it last long enough. I personally wouldn't wnat to leave them more than 4 days without being checked in case of other problems.

 

You'll need to keep them in the run during the trial period, mine free range much of the day and I'm always amazed how much more chicken food they eat if they are closed in for a day where they have limited access to grass, worms etc.

[TAJ]

I wouldn't go more than one night without getting someone to check on them and remove eggs. Usually they have enough food for 3-4 days and can let themselves into the run, so someone coming in only collects eggs and check food & drink levels for a short break.

 

Tracy

[quickcluck]

I think they would be fine, but you may come back to many broken eggs

[Cinnamon]

I have 4 grubs, which I filled right up, plus 2 soperglugs full or water.

 

Thats for my 8, & there was some food left in there when I came back.

 

I also hung them a cabbage & a couple of peckablocks to amuse them (& went specially to the parc market to buy a coming home lettuce )

 

Only 1 broken egg too

[Forge Cottage]

We once left ours for 2 weeks (joke - 2 days), before they started laying, so they were less hungry then! They were fine, but I would not consider leaving them for longer, just in case...

 

Surely there is a safe volunteer who can pop in? Or there are places that do Chicken B&B at reasonable rates.

[chelsea]

2 nights without any visitors attending

3 nights but my sister called over and let them out to free range for a hour or so/changed water and topped up food.

[Janty]

I did have the neighbours checking on the girls when we went away last Summer but I left enough feeders and drinkers so that they would need minimal attention. The neighbours said that they hadn't had to top up the feeders at all. I now fill the feeders up each Saturday when I clean them out and I don't need to bother until the following Saturday. However, I do give them warm layers mash porridge each morning.

[Sunshine]

We always ask the farmer's wife who lives next door to check on our chickens if we go away, she is always happy to do it as then she gets the eggs!

However now we have a friend who has children at my sisters school asking if we are going away so she can come and look after the chickens! Her husband won't let her have any so she loves the excuse to walk the 15mins to our house twice a day to let them out in the morning and lock them up at night and check on the food and water.

 

Do you not have a neighbour that could come and check on them, i'm sure they would love to collect the eggs.

 

Emma

[Cooks]

I have lovely neighbours who dont mind popping in to check each day on mine, I would just not have a nice holiday if I didn't know someone was checking them each day.

[Kirstine]

We managed to stress our chicken sitters out once, as they had thought we had said we had 7 chickens when in fact we only had 6! We were somewhere with very patchy mobile reception so it took us a couple of days to get the frantic text and put their minds at rest.

Just one reason why written instructions are best ...

We have an automatic pop-hole opener so can go away for 2 nights without worrying. Any longer and our landlady or neighbours pop in.

[SAB]

Thanks for all this great advice. In reality when I go away my ex-husband will be looking in on them as he looks after our other animals, but wanted to check in case he either forgets about the chooks, or the turkeys don't let him into the "poultry garden" . I now feel comfortable that if I leave enough food and water, then he can do quick check, collect eggs and I don't need to worry too much if he misses a day.