How much work is it to take care of chickens for a sit? I ask, because there’s a listing with a dog and some chickens and the host doesn’t mention the chickens beyond the indicator for chickens. I’m curious what I might be signing up for.
When I was a kid, we had neighbors with chickens and they just wandered around all the time, loose. We lived on a tropical island and things were super casual. I don’t know how people in the U.K. would typically care for chickens at home. It’s a town sit, not a rural one, not a small holding.
@Maggie8K most chooks (as we call them in Australia) are easy to care for. Collecting eggs daily, topping up feed and water every other day, letting them out to free range, making sure they are locked up before sundown to make sure they are safe from predators (they normally put themselves away) and feeding them your vege scraps. Each has it’s own personality and can be quite fun to watch. They will scratch out garden mulch to have a dust bath so can be a little messy but it’s no big deal. I love looking after chickens aka chookies.
Hi @Maggie8K we have cared for many chickens too and completely agree as per @Crookie description. They definitely have their own personalities I’m sure you will enjoy looking after them.
Thanks much, @Crookie, @Chrissie and @Samox24. That’s great to hear. Makes sense about the foxes, too. I don’t think we had any predators for chickens on the island.
Our first THS sit included 11 chickens that had been re-homed from a battery farm. In this case they had a palatial coop and enclosure had we simply had to fed them ensure they had fresh water and collect the eggs - there was an automatic door to let them out at daylight and close them in at dusk. The owner also had someone who came into clean the henhouse on a weekly basis …( that is probably not the norm )
So it really depends on how many chickens there are and whether they are free range to how much cleaning there is to be done … but like dogs or indoor cats if you are used to cleaning up poop there’s not much else to it .
Very rewarding to see them run to greet you in the morning when you go to feed them and lots of fresh eggs to enjoy.
I’ve looked after numerous chickens in the UK (20 was the most) @Maggie8K and enjoy the experience. I’d ask the HO what responsibilities are involved as it may involve cleaning out their coop. Probably will also depend on the length of the sit as to what is required. Think of all the fresh eggs for breakfast! @Crookie has given a great rundown on what to expect.
@Maggie8K depending on the location if there is avian flu risk even hens that would usually be free range - may not be permitted to go outside and have to be kept enclosed during the outbreak.
This was the situation in England from 7 Nov 2022-18 April 2023. But your host will be responsible for advising you about this if it applies at the time and in the location of the sit.
Thanks, @temba. That’s good to know. I’ll ask if we get to that stage.
Oh, your mention of the eggs reminded me of being maybe 5 years old and staying for a short time at a distant relative’s chicken and duck farm in what was a rural part of Hong Kong’s New Territories. We never saw the chickens or ducks, because they must’ve been housed in some sort of battery farm-like setting, away from the house. But every morning, we kids would be given fresh eggs and were taught to puncture them with a needle and suck down raw eggs, LOL.
I took care of 8 chickens once. They were very little work, except one that was sick a d needed extra care. The others were easygoing and all of them were lovely and friendly.
The most unpleasant part of chicken care can be cleaning the henhouse or coop, or owners might ask to clean their poop from the lawn, etc. So if I take care of chickens again in future, I’d make sure about the exact jobs they’d expect me to do.
It’s very sad to see but in U.K. there are lots of people that rescue ( re- home) battery hens when they would otherwise be destroyed because they are no longer producing “enough” eggs so not considered useful ( economically viable) anymore.
The hens we took care of were prolific layers so given the appropriate care and surroundings rescue hens can thrive are a joy to look after. Sadly though these particular hens (despite the owner best efforts ) didn’t recognise fresh veg or scraps as food , leaving them untouched . They only would eat the layers mash that they were used to being fed on the farm.
I’ve looked after a lot of chickens, usually there have been other pets too. As others have said, they’re very easy and are funny to watch. As soon as you appear they expect to be fed, whether or not they’ve already been fed! And there’s nothing better than freshly laid eggs.
I did have one bad experience with chickens. There were some baby chicks of a couple of weeks old and a day or two before I arrived more chicks had been born. Sadly two of the young chicks died while I was there, mother (her first chicks) had sat on them and it was particularly hot. It was very sad.
Also there was a rooster called Dave who was very aggressive. He pecked my leg and drew blood. When the owners returned they told me it had happened to them too. I became quite frightened of Dave.
However, that has been my only bad experience with them. I had a lovely sit in southern England with 2 gorgeous cats and 12 rare breed hens, the lady owner went to auctions for them - her husband wasn’t so keen on though!
Good to hear about your experience, @Smiley. Thank you. I’ll ask about personalities if I get to that stage of pursuing the sit. Also useful for possible sits in the future, even if I don’t end up with this one.
I must say, that was the only time a rooster (actually there were two but Dave was dominant!) has been included and think they should have been separated from the hens. All the other times there have just been hens.
Good to know. I wouldn’t have even known to ask about that.
When I was young, our neighbors had chickens (including roosters) running around all over the place, alongside many kids playing. I don’t remember much about the chickens otherwise, like being warned about them or being scared — they were just there all the time. The roosters would wake up the whole neighborhood, LOL. It was a tiny tropical island and everything was super casual. On fiesta days (big parties), we’d hear the squealing of a pig as they prepared to roast one early in the morning.
We’ve cared for lots of groups of chickens, but only one where there were also 2 roosters. They were no trouble (apart from the early wake up!). Perhaps because there were 2 of them, although one appeared to be the boss. Or perhaps because one of the geese was quite territorial, so they didn’t have to be! The goose was quite intimidating, but I figured that if I showed him I was bigger than him and not afraid, he would back down. So I honked in reply, held my “wings” out too and kept walking forward, and he backed down and let me go and check for eggs!
I’m sure you will enjoy looking after them. 
