One of the biggest challenges with homesteading is finding someone to care for your animals when you have to be gone for a few days (or a few weeks). Some homesteaders are perfectly content with not traveling a whole lot, however, other homesteaders have the traveling bug, or at least have places they need to go. I happen to be a travel-happy homesteader. I like to travel a lot with my family, so finding a good chicken sitter is a challenge that I have to face pretty regularly. Throughout the years I have learned a few tips and tricks to make caring for my chickens fun, easy, and not too inconvenient for chicken sitters. Finding chicken sitters is challenging, but it is not impossible!
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Why Find a Flock Sitter?
I mean, come on, they’re chickens after all, can’t they just fend for themselves? Domestic chickens cannot fend for themselves when left for a long period of time. So, when you want to go away for a night or a week, you will need to find someone who is willing to care for your flock. The great news is that there many ways you can set up your coop and flock so that they are fairly self-sustaining and self-sufficient. The most important thing to consider when leaving your flock is making sure your chickens will have the essentials each day: food, water, and protection at night. Good chicken sitters will want to know how to do things and when to do things. Here are six tips for finding and keeping chicken sitters!
#1. What to Look for
When figuring out who to ask to care for your flock while you are away there are a few things you want to keep in mind.
- availability– Is the person going to be available for the time that you are away?
- length of time that you are away– Are you going to have to ask several different people to care for your flock while you are away?
- responsibility– Is the person responsible?
- interested and willing– Does the person seem genuinely interested and willing to care for your chickens?
- experience– Does the person have experience with caring for animals? Or even better, have they cared for chickens before?
- kids– Does the person have kids? If so, are the kids good around animals (calm, responsible, caring)?
If you can, find someone who loves animals and knows about caring for animals. Better yet, find someone who is interested in having their own flock of chickens one day! If another flock owner is willing to care for your flock while you are away, consider what bio-security measures should be taken to keep both your chickens and the other chickens safe.
Keep in mind that if the person has kids they may want to bring their kids with them to care for your flock. If that is the case you will want to make sure the kids know how to act around chickens. Teach them how to properly catch and hold a chicken as well as proper etiquette when interacting and being around your flock.
#2. Payment
Payment is not always necessary, but it is a good way to recruit chicken sitters. Also, payment does not always have to come in the form of money either, especially when we are talking about chickens. Allowing the sitter to take home any fresh eggs that they collect can be payment enough for some! If the sitter has their own pets, you could offer to pet sit for them some time while they are away in return for caring for your flock.
An easy method of payment if kids are involved is to have a little ‘prize’ for the end of each day that they help care for the flock. The little prize can be anything from a sheet of stickers to a little matchbox car. Charts can also be fun and exciting for kids. Being able to check off or put a sticker on the chart for every chore they help with can be rewarding for them.
Always express your appreciation and gratitude towards the flock sitter! Payment can come in all sorts of unique and fun forms! Since I love to cook and bake, I often thank my flock sitters by baking them a delicious goody or one of their favorite foods. This gluten-free peanut butter granola always goes over well as do these allergy-friendly grain-free cookies!
Future homesteaders or other modern pioneer-minded individuals may be thrilled at the chance to see what caring for a flock of chickens is all about! Education and experience may be a worthy payment for future homesteaders!
#3. Be Prepared
I have found that chicken sitters are more comfortable about watching your flock if they know that you prepare ahead of time for anything that might arise while you are away. Here are a few tips for getting prepared:
- Labels– it may be helpful to label items in your coop that the sitter will be using (e.g. food tin, poop shovel, poop bucket)
- Checklists– I always print off a checklist for chicken sitters of everything that they need to do on a daily basis
- Contacts– provide your phone number for emergencies
- First Aid Kit– have your chicken first aid kit easily accessible
- Cleanliness– leave everything clean and tidy
- Easy– set out everything that the chicken sitter will need in easy to see spots
- Simple– make it easy and simple for a chicken sitter to refill waterers and feeders
- Plenty of Supplies– always have extra bags of feed stored in a safe container so your chicken sitter won’t run out of feed while you are away
- Healthy– make sure all your flock members are healthy before you plan on taking off anywhere
Be sure that you prepare for any possible emergencies that the chicken sitter might encounter. If you have roosters, make sure you are for sure and positive that they will not fight. Never leave an injured chicken or one that looks like it might be ill. A good back up plan for emergencies is to have a separate infirmary cage or pen all set up for any bird that might need to be quarantined while you are away. Having a printed off sheet with possible poultry problems and how to treat them is handy for chicken sitters too.
#4. Keep it Flexible
If you can, keep your chicken care schedule flexible. Your chicken sitter will like to know that they don’t have to be right at your house at a specific time to care for your flock. Filling the feeder full will ensure that the chickens have food all day long. Have several waters placed around your coop so that you can be sure that your flock always has water. Water is more important than food. Staying on top of your cleaning will really help too. Having a clean coop when you leave will make it easier for both the chicken sitter and for you.
One tool that I have found really helpful is an automatic chicken door. I now have more flexibility both in my daily routine and for when I want to get away for a few nights. Yes, they do cost a pretty penny, but I have found that they are totally worth the initial cost. I can now leave my flock for one or two nights without even finding a chicken sitter! I just make sure all the waters are full, the feeder is full, and the coop is clean. Then I can leave and not worry about them while I am gone for a few nights! Automatic chicken doors also give your chicken sitter the freedom to skip a day or take off for a night. Just make sure you stress the importance of making sure the flock has plenty of food and water.
#5. Give a Preview
Having your chicken sitter over to run through the routine with you is very helpful. That way you can be sure that the chicken sitter understands everything and that you haven’t forgotten something in your instructions. Show them where everything is located (cleaning supplies, first aid kit, food, water). It may be helpful to share some basic chicken knowledge with them too. That way they don’t feel like they are totally blind as to what to do with chickens.
Give them the printed off care sheets at this time or show them where they can find information or checklists. It is often helpful to keep a chicken care checklist pinned out at your coop, just incase your chicken sitter forgets to bring their checklist. Make sure your chicken sitter is comfortable and ready to care for your flock while you are gone.
#6. Make it Simple
Make your chicken chores simple, easy, and fun and you will find that your chicken sitter may become more enthusiastic to come over and care for your flock. This may mean leaving out some less important chores. For me a few less important chores include, cleaning the enclosure on a weekly basis, emptying the poop bucket, picking herbs for the coop, and adding supplements to my flock’s feed. Planning ahead can reduce the amount of chicken chores too. If you are integrating new birds, make sure everyone is getting along very well before you leave.
Also be sure that you don’t hatch chicks or have broody hens hatching chicks while you are away. We may think that caring for those cute fluff balls is fun, but a chicken sitter can find it a little stressful! Make sure all of your chickens are coop-trained and know to go into the coop to roost at night. This will prevent your chicken keeper from having to run around trying to corral chickens before closing them up at night. Don’t have your flock free-range while you are away. This cuts back on a lot of stress that the flock sitter may experience!
Speaking of fun, try and keep your chores fun or at least include a fun activity! One such activity that I use is leaving behind special treats that my chicken sitter can give my flock. I make up quinoa cakes that can be given to my chickens or special scratch mixes that can be sprinkled around the enclosure. Feeding chickens is always fun!
Well Cared For
With these tips in mind, you should be able to find a good, reliable chicken sitter who is willing to care for your flock! As long as your chickens have the basics of food, water, and protection, you should feel confident leaving them for a period of time. Make your chicken care chores simple and easy to execute, which can be helpful for both you and future flock sitters. Being prepared and having an emergency plan can give you peace of mind and make the flock sitter more confident. Finding a reliable and enthusiastic flock sitter for your homestead chickens is totally possible! So go enjoy your summer vacation and relax knowing that your flock is in good care!
For more tips on making the homestead chicken chores simple, fun, and effective, make sure you sign up for our weekly newsletter! We discuss homestead chicken keeping tips every week and will send you a free copy of our ebook, Raising Chickens Like a Pioneer!
by Alexa
Ginger Kaufman
July 10, 2017 11:37 amI thought chicken sitting was fun! You definitely made it easy and the eggs were rewarding 🙂