how much to pay a chicken sitter?

[mollygrace]

I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks and am so sad to have to be away from my 18 week old pullets! My literal next door neighbor is going to watch them, but I'm not sure what to pay her. There are only 6 of them. Obviously they aren't laying yet or I'd offer her any eggs she gathers.

• She won't have to fill the feeders at all since they will easily last 2 weeks.
• She doesn't need to let them in or out of anywhere.
• She could probably get by with cleaning the dropping board and filling the waterer every other or even third day.
• And of course she doesn't have any travel time to get here.
• I'd love for her to still take a peek every day just to make sure they haven't done anything crazy.

When she watched my cat in the past she came over twice every day to feed her and clean the litter box. (Kitty is gone now so she won't be doing the cat in addition to the chickens.) I paid $100 for two weeks for the cat care. It seems like the chicken care will be less than that so I'm not sure if I should still do $100 or if less would be reasonable.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So you paid her $50/week for cat care. Hmm. $25/week seems a bit cheap, actually, and any increments between 25 and 50 seem ... silly. What would you offer? 30? 35? 40? 45? She will be coming over every day. Cleaning poop trays five or six times. Checking water, filling it three or four times.

If you can afford it, I think $50/ week sounds fair and reasonable. But ... that's just me. That's what I would pay, given that there are no eggs. You could tell her what's expected and ask her if she feels $25 is reasonable. Do you ever reciprocate and take care of her animals?

 

[Loving my girls]

Hell !
Wherever I’ve lived I’ve never paid !
We just do stuff for each other and popping in for five minutes to clean a poop board and refill the water don’t seem too hard to me.
Sheesh !

 

[my spoiled chickens]

I think 30-35$ a week sounds reasonable since if the chickens get in trouble she would have to deal with it. Cats are a little higher matinence than chickens are

 

[McChooky]

I've heard some horror stories from people who've left animals in the care of others (even family members!) If you have a good one count your blessings and show your appreciation! You won't always have them.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I've heard some horror stories from people who've left animals in the care of others (even family members!) If you have a good one count your blessings and show your appreciation! You won't always have them.

This ^^^

Personally if you trust her and she does a good job keeping them safe, fed, watered, clean them it should be worth showing appreciation.

Come to an agreement in advance. If everything is great give a decent tip to her.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If they did a good job taking care of your cat I wouldn’t pay them any less than $50 per week. $7.14 per day is pretty darn cheap for good trusted animal care.

 

[AGeese]

I've heard some horror stories from people who've left animals in the care of others (even family members!) If you have a good one count your blessings and show your appreciation! You won't always have them.

Yes, as much as I explain how to do things and make it super easy for my parents, things still get done just a little differently than what I expected.

If you have someone who can follow instructions and knows how to pay attention to your animals that's gold.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I paid a "neighbor" kid who rode his bike about 1/2 mile each day after school to check on my ducks and chickens. He refilled water and feed when necessary. My ducks feeder runs out after 2 days and ducks need fresh water everyday. It was fall - so mild temps. I gave him $20/day and I didn't make him clean anything or lock them up in their coop (they have a pretty secure run). He was here a max of 10 days for about 15 min each day. I also let him keep the eggs that he gathered. Plus, I brought him back a souvenir.
Take good care of your neighbor so that they are more apt to say yes the next time - especially if they tend to your animals as expected.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I pay a neighborhood teenager $20 per visit when I’m on vacation. No cleaning, just changing water and refilling food. She only needs to come every 2-3 days, so that works out to about $50 per week.
Our neighbor comes over daily to get the eggs (our sitter has her own chickens), so that’s additional eyes on the girls if there ends up being any problems.