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Can confirm, we’ve raised hens for about 7 years now and a good feed system (we’ve landed on rainproof containers that allow the chickens to feed at will) and a

Can confirm, we’ve raised hens for about 7 years now and a good feed system (we’ve landed on rainproof containers that allow the chickens to feed at will) and a large water reservoir with drinking cups has allowed us to go on short trips with ease. For anything beyond 4 days, we have someone stop by to check water levels and remove eggs from the hen boxes. We recently introduced a bantam rooster to our flock- he’s great and he’s really helped with the pecking order issues, but now we have to pull the eggs every 2 days at most (to avoid creating balut[0]). [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

mod 5y ago
I've done similar things. I use 25lb dog feeders for chicken layer pellets (inside), I have an enclosed outdoor run, and I had a nipple waterer with a pretty big reservoir. And neighbors to check in in the past, although now I have camera systems I can view live, and just ask my neighbor to stop by if something is amiss. Overall it makes it relatively easy to leave as-needed. For me, one neighbor stop is typically going to mean I can be gone a couple of weeks, with likely no issues.
mostertoaster 5y ago
I’ve seen people hook up like the toilet tank float system with a hose on, so that when the level gets low it just fills up automatically again. Then combine that with little nipped feeders, and at least for water they can be good for a long time.
downut 5y ago
So... I was raised for a while on a 3 generation compound with quite the animal menagerie, including chickens. I can imagine a situation where the chickens are entirely confined. Ok, we never did that. For us, the roosters flew to the high branches of the quite large grapefruit trees. There they were mostly safe, and were of course expendable anyway. The hens (sometimes ducks) were locked up nightly in a rather carefully built hen house completely enclosed in a chickewire box. Maybe 20'x10'x10'. You could walk around in it no problem, along with the 10 or so chickens and the roost box. This was on the edge of the Everglades in S. Florida. We had a variety of varmints. The varmints occasionally breached the defences. Repairs were occasionally required. Losses happened. That's what I wonder about entirely confined chickens, while granting varmints more or less unlimited time to work on the problem. What's the difference? And there's that "recently" word lurking in my parent... we'll see what the spillover effects are. I'm going to add that I've had a box turtle for 27 years, and my last cat lasted 16 years. And we have traveled multiple weeks multiple times a year for decades. I am all in favor of personal enslavement to an agrarian fantasy. For many years my wife the master gardener has besieged me (the cook) with the fruit of her 5 raised beds. It took us about 4 tries to get through a summer (in AZ at 5500') without having to monitor/water the garden semi daily. We fixed that, with occasional failure. However, you have to concede significant losses if you travel around harvest season: stuff really wants to leap off the plants in a timely manner. So... all I am saying is that this is not a simple game if it lasts for a significant part of your lifetime, if you want to travel.

mod 5y ago

I've done similar things. I use 25lb dog feeders for chicken layer pellets (inside), I have an enclosed outdoor run, and I had a nipple waterer with a pretty big reservoir. And neighbors to check in in the past, although now I have camera systems I can view live, and just ask my neighbor to stop by if something is amiss. Overall it makes it relatively easy to leave as-needed. For me, one neighbor stop is typically going to mean I can be gone a couple of weeks, with likely no issues.

mostertoaster 5y ago

I’ve seen people hook up like the toilet tank float system with a hose on, so that when the level gets low it just fills up automatically again. Then combine that with little nipped feeders, and at least for water they can be good for a long time.

downut 5y ago

So... I was raised for a while on a 3 generation compound with quite the animal menagerie, including chickens. I can imagine a situation where the chickens are entirely confined. Ok, we never did that. For us, the roosters flew to the high branches of the quite large grapefruit trees. There they were mostly safe, and were of course expendable anyway. The hens (sometimes ducks) were locked up nightly in a rather carefully built hen house completely enclosed in a chickewire box. Maybe 20'x10'x10'. You could walk around in it no problem, along with the 10 or so chickens and the roost box. This was on the edge of the Everglades in S. Florida. We had a variety of varmints. The varmints occasionally breached the defences. Repairs were occasionally required. Losses happened. That's what I wonder about entirely confined chickens, while granting varmints more or less unlimited time to work on the problem. What's the difference? And there's that "recently" word lurking in my parent... we'll see what the spillover effects are. I'm going to add that I've had a box turtle for 27 years, and my last cat lasted 16 years. And we have traveled multiple weeks multiple times a year for decades. I am all in favor of personal enslavement to an agrarian fantasy. For many years my wife the master gardener has besieged me (the cook) with the fruit of her 5 raised beds. It took us about 4 tries to get through a summer (in AZ at 5500') without having to monitor/water the garden semi daily. We fixed that, with occasional failure. However, you have to concede significant losses if you travel around harvest season: stuff really wants to leap off the plants in a timely manner. So... all I am saying is that this is not a simple game if it lasts for a significant part of your lifetime, if you want to travel.