Holiday Feeding?

Hi,
I have reduced the number of different birds i now keep as my son left home last year so its tricky to get anyone to come in regularly to feed my birds when we are on holiday.  How do other keepers deal with this as not going on holiday isn't the answer for me.
Are feeders on a timer any good?
I vaguely remember some keepers using cat feeders that release food daily - do any members on here use these?
Or some sort of hopper that can be filled with live food?
Suggestions and possibly images of your solutions would be a help.
Thank you
Mark.