emmalou Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I am about to order my first chickens which I am very excited about. I can't believe how much I have learnt about chickens in the first week of joining the forum and thanks all. However I am keen to know whether owners still manage to get away for 3 or 4 nights leaving their chickens to fend for themselves. I see that some people prefer feeding their hens daily, so once a week etc. However I am unsure how secure the chickens are being left out each night if the pen is secure? Do they av an instict after a while to use their coop when it gets dark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey76 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 For me it is always better if you can get a chicken sitter to lock up and open up (a friendly neighbour perhaps - an offer of any eggs usually doesn't go amiss ) However if you aren't on speaking terms with your neighbours, it is possible to leave the hens if they are in a secure run. If it was me, though, I would double up on security and get an electric poultry fence. This will help prevent foxes and larger predators (martens, badgers etc) from getting to the run, but probably won't help with mink or weasels. Larger gravity feeders and drinkers should enable a weeks worth of food and water without needing to be topped up; and yes, the hens will put themselves to bed on a night. One more thought - if you have a wooden coop, you could change the normal pop hole to an automatic opener - they are pretty pricey - but you can either have them timed, or light sensitive, and would take some of the worry about the hens being safe overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 The most important thing is that they are in a secure pen - yes, they will instinctively return to their coop when it gets dark, and they are usually fine with the door open, but of course once they are asleep they are easy prey so it's essential that the whole enclosure is secure. I would leave mine for up to 48 hours - longer than that and you really need someone to check on them, top up food and water if needed and collect eggs and just make sure that nothing is taking advantage of your absence to dig or tunnel under the run. As Casey says, the chance to have some eggs is often enough to get neighbours to do this - it's a five-minute job, and can easily be done by a teenager if your neighbours have children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmalou Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Ok, so ideally for 5 birds I should aim for a 3 kilo feeder (for 3 nights away) even 4 maybe, and a 4 litre water dispenser? Does this sound about right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey76 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 If you can get a 5kg one it will give you a little more leeway. theoretically a layer will eat only 125g per day, but you get some greedy ones and some not so much. If you allow 5kg for 5 birds over 4 days that would be sufficient. Allowing only 3kg, may mean they get a little hungry on the last day if they are a bit greedy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I would still see if you can have someone pop round halfway you being away. If they tip over the water on the first day, you are going to kick yourself when you come back to 5 dead chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea08 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 this is what concerned me the most about getting chickens and why I kept putting it off then I did some research on the net one day and found that the going away issue can be solved with automatic/step on feeders and automatic drinkers as long as you have these and someone who checks for eggs at least once a day you will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmalou Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 I hadn't seen about step on feeders. Bit annoyed really as I have just ordered regular feeders now, however they are a little dearer so maybe if the chickens work out fine I will upgrade in a year or so. Thanks for your reply. I had seen the automatic openers but am not sure how good they are? We have had microchip catflaps and they are totally rubbish and would let one cat in but not the other, so was paranoid when we went away, so had to can that idea. I wasn't sure on the reliability of the chicken flaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
