Responsibilities

We need the cats and chickens looked after while we are away. Four chickens and three cats. The cats are allowed outside during the day but not all night. The two male cats can go outside after their evening meal but will want to come back inside after a while. We do not let the female cat (Lola) out at all at night after her evening meal. They all sleep in the kitchen at night and we keep the kitchen door closed. Their litter tray is in the bij-keuken. Water bowls are there too. Cat food is in one of the kitchen drawers. We feed them one full sachet of cat food with a sprinkling of cat biscuits on top of each cat bowl at breakfast and then again in the evening(around 5.00pm). The chickens should be let out of the Henhouse in the morning when it gets light and then put away when it is beginning to get dark. If you leave the door to the Henhouse open then chickens will go inside themselves in the evening. Their biological clocks tell them when it is time to go to bed and to nest on the perches upstairs in the Henhouse. It is important that they are put away safely at night and the Henhouse door is closed. We lost one of our chickens to a predator recently (we think a neighbouring dog). All the chicken feed is in the garage by the backdoor in sealed containers. The nesting area in the Henhouse needs to be cleaned out of chicken poop every day. The perches and the wooden ladder need to be wiped clean of chicken poop every day too. The water dispenser needs refilling and cleaning as appropriate. There is a washbasin in the garage and all chicken equipment can be cleaned there. There is a hot water heater underneath the washbasin and this can be turned on when you need hot water. It heats up very quickly. The garden and potted plants need watering regularly during the hot weather - in particular the hydrangeas (hortensias) which need a lot of water as soon as their leaves begin to droop.