How to Care for Your Chickens While You are Away
When we want to go for a vacation or away from home for a few days, we are always concerned about the welfare of our chickens when we are gone. However, this should not prevent you from planning your vacation and having a great experience. There are a number of tips you can use to take care of your chickens while you are away. These tips have been talked about in this article.
Get a Good Chicken Sitter
Just like a babies, chickens might also need a sitter from time to time because they need a lot of care. Getting a good chicken sitter is important because it will put your mind at ease when you go away. You can have family members become chicken sitters or talk to your friendly neighbor about it. If none of these are present, willing or knowledgeable to do so, you can always hire a chicken sitter within your community.
Find someone who is passionate about chickens and who knows what they are doing. It will be important to give them information and a guide on how you take care of your chickens. Even if you are certain they know how to take care of chickens, give the chicken sitter good guidelines and instructions on how to take care of your flock. The chicken sitter and the flock will thank you for preparing everyone for your time away.
Preparation Before you Leave
Before your leave for your vacation or whatever, you need to prepare in advance how your chicken will be taken care of. You need to make sure that you have enough feed to last the chicken for the duration of your travel. Label the feed and troughs to make it easier for the chicken sitter to understand different feeds. You should also indicate the quantities of feed that the chickens needs to be given during the day.
Ensure that you clean out your chicken coop. It is common courtesy to do so. You do not expect your chicken sitter to do that especially if they are doing it voluntarily. Show them where you keep everything relevant to the chickens. If possible, you can also give them the number of the local vet officer, just in case the chickens develop some sickness while you are gone.
If you have chickens that have already started laying eggs, you will need to ask your chicken sitter to collect these eggs on a regular basis. Sometimes this can be as often as two times a day. This is important because if the eggs are left lying around for long, the chickens might be encouraged to develop a bad habit of eating the eggs.
You should also ensure that you have looked into the matters to do with the security of your chicken while you are gone. Chickens have many predators and it is your job to keep them safe. Other than having a good chicken coop that keeps off these predators, talk with your chicken sitter about that. If your chickens are used to roaming around during the day, you can ask the chicken sitter to let them out at certain times and keep an eye on them.
Here is a FREE Chicken Sitter Printable Checklist to help make your chicken sitter with daily tasks and instructions.
In His Grace,
Callie
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