Leaving home for 36 hours. What should I do with my chicks?

[Potato and Eilonwy]

I have 4 chicks that will be 4 weeks old on Friday. I am planning on leaving on Friday Afternoon and returning home Saturday 4:00 PM. What should I do with my baby chicks? They poop up their water within an hour of me changing it, and the fact that the internet says chicks can die in 12 hours without water is scaring me. So what should I do?

 

[nuthatched]

Are they in a coop or a brooder?

 

[Alexandra Runner]

Is hiring a chick-sitter an option? My seven year old neighbor watches mine with no problems!

 

[SilverBirds]

What is your brooder setup like? If they're getting things that messy it may be time to upgrade. They should be more than fine to be left alone for that long, but you could have a someone pop in to check on them at night or in the morning.

 

[Mikski]

Could you switch to a nipple waterer? Mine picked up on it super easy. I also moved mine out to the coop at 4&5 weeks and had no issues. Temps still getting into the 30s at night.

 

[Potato and Eilonwy]

Are they in a coop or a brooder?

Brooder. We wait longer until moving them to a coop.

 

[Potato and Eilonwy]

What is your brooder setup like? If they're getting things that messy it may be time to upgrade. They should be more than fine to be left alone for that long, but you could have a someone pop in to check on them at night or in the morning.

We keep them in a recycling bin that we have kept all our other chicks in the we have gotten before. We never really had any issues with it except that they sometimes break out.

 

[Potato and Eilonwy]

Could you switch to a nipple waterer? Mine picked up on it super easy. I also moved mine out to the coop at 4&5 weeks and had no issues. Temps still getting into the 30s at night.

I dont think we have a nipple waterer. Also I dont think we ever moved our chicks outside at 4 weeks before

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I have 4 chicks that will be 4 weeks old on Friday. I am planning on leaving on Friday Afternoon and returning home Saturday 4:00 PM. What should I do with my baby chicks? They poop up their water within an hour of me changing it, and the fact that the internet says chicks can die in 12 hours without water is scaring me. So what should I do?

hire a pet sitter?

 

[NatJ]

I have 4 chicks that will be 4 weeks old on Friday. I am planning on leaving on Friday Afternoon and returning home Saturday 4:00 PM. What should I do with my baby chicks? They poop up their water within an hour of me changing it, and the fact that the internet says chicks can die in 12 hours without water is scaring me. So what should I do?

I would give them fresh water right before you leave, check them as soon as you get home, and hope for the best.

Unless their brooder is way too hot, they should not actually die in the time you are gone, even if they dump their water in the first hour. If they do not dump their water, they will drink poopy water rather than go thirsty, and it will not do them any real harm (gross but not a big health issue for that length of time. Leaving it poopy for several days would be likely to cause an outbreak of coccidiosis.)

It would be nice if you can get someone to give them clean water Saturday morning, but I know this is rather short notice for that.

I would not make any major changes this close to your trip. For example, putting the water up on a brick might keep them from pooping in it as much-- but it might also let the chicks tip the whole thing over. Not what you want to happen while you are gone, so don't make that change unless you have several days to watch the results. For future, if you have a trip but more time to plan ahead, maybe put the water up on bricks or pavers, and make the brooder about 4 times as big (so they do more pooping in other places and less in the water.)