organicgardener.com.au^81
ORGANIC POULTRY
Jessamy Miller explains how to set up your chooks and organise
carerswhenyouwant togoonholidays.Happy chook holidays
W
hen you head off on holidays, you
want to have peace of mind about
your animals. Household pets like
dogs and cats can be cared for at kennels, but
birdie boarding houses are still relatively rare.
Knowing the potential challenges will help
you set up a henhouse so that you come
home to healthy, contented chooks.Supervision
It might seem tempting to leave the flock
unsupervised, but in fact chooks do need to
be checked each day by a designated carer. If
fowls are kept in a deep litter set-up or a fully
predator-proof house and run, the carer may
only need to attend once daily to collect eggs,
and check feed, water and wellbeing. Where
chooks are manually locked up at night and
let out in the morning, you’ll obviously need
someone to visit twice daily.
If there’s a heatwave, bad storm or other
weather extreme while you are away, your
carers will have to be at the ready to check
for dehydrated or heat-stressed birds, or
damage to coops.Troubleshooting
Chooks are highly strung and a fright or
fracas could result in upturned feed or water
containers, leaving them without supplies.
It is always possible a fowl will fall ill, get
into a fight, or become injured and need
medical attention. And predators love
chicken as much as we do; a snake or fox
could strike opportunistically. Bored and
confined chooks can turn to feather pecking
and egg eating, so checking fowls and
PHOTO: JESSAMY MILLER removing eggs daily is important.