but who looks after them when you are on holiday?

10 replies

MicrowaveOnly · 29/04/2008 14:55

Hi chicken lovers

I desperately want chickens but dh wants to know who will look after them when we go on holiday. Good question. I have friends around but I can't be sure they'd be up for this...what do you do???

OP posts:

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 29/04/2008 14:57

The neighbours look after mine. They just need their food and water topping up every other day. But then I don't sjut the pop hole at night. I can imagine if they need putting to bed every night and letting out at dawn it will be a pita for the neighbours.

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 29/04/2008 16:32

Friends and neighbours - we reciprocate by feeding cats, rabbits etc. As stripey says, it's only food and water and also egg collecting. I do shut them up usually but we risk it when we're away.

We put extra straw in the house and it's fine without being cleaned out for 2 weeks.

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 29/04/2008 16:33

Well, I say it's "fine without being cleaned out" - it's a bit whiffy, but not dreadful!

Madlentileater · 29/04/2008 19:23

Yes, neighbours are OK here- although hasn't been that often as DS1 usually here. When we first got our first lot, they had just come into lay before we left for 2 weeks, neighbour had kindly aggreed to look after them, in exchange for lots of yummy fresh organic eggs....which they completely refused to lay! Started again as soon as we got back. OTOH, when ds1 looks after them, i have returned to find about 20 uncollected eggs!....do hens really stop laying if they are missing you??

Oblomov · 29/04/2008 20:31

Stripeyknickersspottysocks did you know that I have e-mailed you ? I wanted to know if you would like our holiday.

CristinaTheAstonishing · 29/04/2008 20:32

We took ours back to the farm we'd got them from. DS and DD1 were heartbroken that Freddie and Tallulah never came back. What's more, when we went to visit them at the farm again, they'd grown so big and were so similar to all others that neither party recognised each other. Cruel, cruel mum.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 29/04/2008 22:05

Oblomov - sorry it was lost in all the spam, but have found it now. Have emailed you back. Thanks.

Hassled · 29/04/2008 22:09

Neighbours - they love it and they get free eggs. No harder than feeding a cat.

surprise · 29/04/2008 22:13

We always have neighbours that look after ours... although once when we went on holiday he didn't shut them up (as we'd said don't bother) and they were all killed by a fox. Poor neighbour was v upset, as were we.

Loshad · 29/04/2008 22:20

We pay someone to look after them ,but as a job lot including horses, rabbit, cat and water susceptible veg. Unsurprisngly i'm not big on holidays

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