Vacation. Who watches your birds?

[Gary]

Other than the obvious friends and relatives. Who watches your birds when you are away? I like to take off every once and awhile, but have a hard time even paying someone to watch them. I can give them enough feed and water in the summer for a month or so and feel comfortable about having my daughter stop in and make sure everything is alright. In the winter I worry about the power going off or something else and have the water freeze up and the birds don't have water. Heated water fountains work fine here in the northeast even at zero. But I'd still like someone to look in after them to make sure they have water. What do you do when you go away?

[Christopher]

This is something I stress about anytime I have to be out-of town either for a vacation (haven't taken one in awhile), or recently, the Ohio Nationals or some work related conference (which I avoid if I can).

Obesity seems to be common these days and given the stooping & moving about in & about my pens and run, I try and look for someone in decent shape as well as responsible & not afraid to get dirty (a rare combination). There's a guy who does yard work for a number of my neighbors. The past couple of out-of-towns, I've hired him & given him strict instructions. I also pay half before I leave and withhold the other half until I get back.

In the past, and this is the best I have found, I have had a family, whose older children are interested in poultry, who will come over and do it. A parent will accompany them & watch. I always pay them even though they say they don't expect it. If I have a testy, protective or unpredictable rooster (which I have had in the past), then I pen him separately, inform and ask the parent to feed him and check his water.

This has been my experience.

Edit (addition): I live in the South so the water freezing is not a common problem for me. It happens but not frequent

[Gary]

Christopher. Would you mind if I asked how much you pay to the person attending your birds? I want to be fair in the price. Gary

[Christopher]

Sure. The last time I paid $15 per day. I have paid as much as $25 per day (when I have had more birds [ i.e. when the Spring hatch is growing out--& more work] ).

Unless it is Spring, it does not take them a half hour to feed & check waterers (which is pretty good pay).

[Patrick]

I have a lot of experience with this, and I've determined that there will always be headaches involved.

First, I've come to terms with the fact that no one, no mater how conscientious, will care for my birds the same way that I will, nor will they make decisions when needed that will be the same as what I would have done, no matter how many detailed instructions I leave.

Second, keep it simple. No complicated suppliments or recipes to remember, multiple different feeds, vitamins or medications to mix every day, etc. Otherwise, you're asking for disappointment. If you do have different species, label the feed containers clearly, with simple instructions like, Feed A goes into Pen 1. And identify the pens by numbers or some other common type of ID, like color, description or location. Don't expect people to remember the difference between breeds, or even to know that some of your fancy pigeons are not chickens, your ducks are not geese, etc. Having feeders and waterers which don't need to be serviced every day, like you do, I've found is a big help too, although sometimes this can backfire. I've had people easily forget to check them if they're not used to doing it regularly, as part of the routine. Spring is the hardest time for me,a nd I hate going away then. Even with instructions to put the eggs from this pen in this bucket, I've had problems, and multiple brooders to service leaves room for mistakes. I generally don't have anyone do any cleaning while I'm not here, unless it's pull out cage trays. Going in and out of pens, being careful not to disturb the birds, etc, it's too easy to cause mistakes. Whenever possible, I try to set up pens so that they can be fed and watered from the outside. The more they have to go in, the more chance for problems. I almost always have at least two water sources in each pen, in case they forget to fill one, or if it gets knocked over or springs a leak.

I make sure to tell them what to do and what NOT to do if someone escapes. I once had someone let one of a pair of pigeons out from a side pen into my main loft. To her they all looked the same, so I don't know why she grabbed one which she thought was the escapee hen, but it turned out to be the wrong one, another cock, and both cocks now together apparently fought all week, the father didn't feed, and I lost both squabs. If she had called me immediately, I would have told her what to do.

I generally have someone that I hire long before I go away, to clean pens and for other odd jobs around the place, so that I have many opportunities to show them the routine, and observe how they do things. I let them do a few dry runs while I'm at work, and then correct any problems. This has helped a great deal in catching any serious mistakes. It does cost money, but I think that it's great insurance.

I've long since given up on expecting relatives or neighbors to do it for free or very little, or in exchange for other favors, and I will not hire kids anymore. I know that there are a few out there who can handle it, and who have a sincere interest in learning about how to care for animals the right way. I was one, but in my experience they are very very rare. I usually start people off at $8 an hour. The last time I advertised for help, last summer, I got over 30 calls. I don't tell them this when they start, but if I like how they work out, I bump them up to $9 after a few weeks, as an incentive. In a few cases with people who I felt were really worth it, I gave them $10. I might be out of touch, but I think this is better than they can start off with at the local convenience store.

From experience, I have found it necessary to sit down with any new applicants and go over a list of what I expect and what I prohibit, and I give them a copy, so they can't say later that they don't remember going over that. Things like no smoking in my barn, no bringing children, friends or other family members with you while I'm away, expected times that they will come, what to do in case of an emergency, etc. I have laminated cards with my and my wife's cell numbers, home, work and emergency contacts if they can't reach us. I give them two copies, and tell them one is for your wallet, one for home. I also post this in the barn, and instruct them to continue to call all of the numbers, until they reach me, especially if they cannot come. From experience, I always ask if they've had any trouble with the law, or have they ever been arrested. This helps me more than the typical question if they've ever been convicted of a crime. I'm indebted to the one guy who made me realize the need for these questions. Like I do with all applicants, I gave him an overview of what the job entails, before going down to the barn. I always ask if they have any questions, and his, while sitting at my kitchen table, was "Do you have a problem with me being a convicted fellon?" I think generally I'm well prepared, but I didn't see that one coming.

I make sure that anyone who I hire has a cell phone. I've been surprised at how many don't. There is no phone in my barn, and they need to be able to call me if needed, or someone else in an emergency. I also like to be able to call them. I sometimes call at a time when they're supposed to be there, just to check up on things. I also post my property address in the barn, in case they need to call for help. Many people won't remember the address.

I'm very flexible with times when people can come. This has helped with students, people with other jobs, mothers, etc. Occasionally it has backfired, and the more flexible I was, the more they took advantage of it. In those cases I had to establish a strict time that I needed them there. Even with being flexible, I've needed to set some guidelines. For example, with it getting dark at 4:30, they can't show up at 4:00 and expect everyone to get to drink before dark, when the water will all freeze solid, so this time of year I tell them that they can come no later than 3:00.

The most important thing that I do is to have someone as a backup. I've finally found someone who is a farm sitter, whose knowledge and experience rivals mine, even if not quite in the same areas. She's been worth her weight in gold. She's expensive, so I use her sparingly. In summer, or if I have someone else who is reliable, I'll have her come only once or twice a week, just to check on things and make sure everyone is getting taken care of. I don't even have her do much work, unless it's something that requires some attention to detail that I can't depend on my other helper for. This helps keep her fees down. This time of year, or when I have someone less reliable, I'll have her come and check every other day. I forget what her actual fees are. She usually leaves me a bill for what I owe her for the time she was here. With travel, it may be something like $45 a visit, but the peace of mind I find is well worth it. For her I looked around at people advertising pet or farm sitting services. Most of the pet sitters I've found know little about farm animals, so I've focused on those who offer farm sitting services. The horse only crowd in my experience was often even more narrowly focused than than the pet sitters. For her I asked for a lot of references, and checked them.

Unless I have found someone whose expertise I have grown to trust, like my farm sitter, I generally tell people (as tactfully as possible) that they are not allowed to use any of their current knowledge of birds when making decisions on how to care for mine. I especially don't want them using what they've been told by their uncle, grandfather or old farmer down the road who's been "raising birds for years". I leave explicit yet simple instructions on what they are to do. Anything else, they must call. I would rather train a chimpanzee to mindlessly perform simple specific tasks, than have someone decide what to do based on what they think that they know. It hasn't happened yet, but god forbid that someone decided to go on to BYC for advice on what to do with my birds while I'm away.

It's never easy finding someone good. You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find someone reliable.

[Gary]

Thanks so much for the advice. There were quite a few things mentioned by Patrick that I never thought of. Now to work and find someone.

[Patrick]

Christopher's lucky. Freezing water is my biggest worry, if someone doesn't show up, or misses a pen. Most other major problems can be prevented with a little planning and a lot of training.

[Gary]

I hear you Patrick. I'm all set up with my water as far as freezing. My main concern is to just have someone make sure the 40 watt lights don't go out or the heated bases don't go out from a power failure. I have a setup with food that will go for a good month or more and water about a month. When I was a lot younger, I took care of one of the top breeders of Houdans. I was there every day checking every aspect of the operation to make sure his chickens were all there when he got back. Can't seem to find that sort of a youngster in the neighborhood today. Oh well!

[Patrick]

If chickens only came with batteries, touch screens or key pads, we'd have all the kids we need wanting to take care of them.

[travelvacation]

its good if you hire anyone for that

[prairiechicken]

Don't take one! :-D
Honestly, make sure you know your care taker and their ability. Too, as has been said, realize that no one will take care of them like you.

We had never had a vacation and then about five years ago we decided to take a trip to the east coast while all our children were still home. We hired a teenage boy who we knew his family well and knew he was well accquainted with poultry at home. We expected all would go well. We were gone two weeks and I had even called his folks and they assured me all was well with the kid.
Well, we had decided to cut our trip short and came home in the middle of the night instead of extending our trip to one more day. We found a chicken house full of dead chickens. Rabbit cages full of dead and dying rabbits. A cow that was nearly dead from lack of water and a poor scotty puppy at death's door.
We found fifteen baskets of eggs lined up across the kitchen floor. The first one full to the brim and lessening numbers of eggs in each until they petered down to a half dozen eggs. We were sick, had lost hundreds of dollars worth of stock and the remaining stock took months to recover. The puppy went to Dr. in the middle of the night and hung between life and death for days and days and finally recovered but we had vet bills amounting to hundreds too.
This was a kid who was suppose to be responsible, and who did all the poultry chores at home, but did less and less each day until all he was doing was picking the eggs.
We had a disastrous experience and I'm afraid to ever leave home again. I've come to the conclusion that one can be a traveler or stay home and love what you do.
So, we now stay close to home as had for many years prior to our one vacation.

[Altair]

^ Talk about a horror story. Did the boy's family reimburse you at all?

I am usually in the shoes of the watcher. Right now my neighbors are in Jamaica and I'm looking after their farm. I don't take many vacations either because of the usual worries. If you can find someone decent, even good, hang on to them tightly!

[KKluckers]

I have a teenager from our church come over. He loves the chickens as much as I do and most of the time wants to work for chickens :D I pay him 20 a day to tend to my birds when Im out of town. He is a great kid and reliable!!

[papamike]

I contacted the local high school and spoke with the FFA advisor. He lined me up with a kid who intended to pursue a career in the poultry industry. I now feel comfortable, for the first time since my kids moved out, going on vacation.

Another good resource would be your county 4H Extension Agent.