Food and water inside coop or in the run

[PhilSanchez]

Will get pictures up when finished, right now building new coop keeping everyone panicking.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I keep all feed & flock blocks inside the coop. The only treat I will even offer outside or in their pens is mealworms. No scratch or grains outside. I have a lot of mice around here and a nearby horse barn that has drawn rats over there in the past, even though they have a dozen lazy cats. I already have my compost pile at the furthest end of my property about an acre away from the coop. I do not need to lure Rodents or wildlife closer to chicken coops or pigeon loft. I do set up temporary water in their pens during the day, dump it before dark & bring those waterers in. Also, those little waterers are covered because my pens are open & don't need wild bird crap in their water.

Once rodents get in a coop it is very difficult keeping them out, you can fix and repair but they'll just chew new holes, because they remember where grub was good, so try not to ever let them get in your chicken area and get food in the 1st place. While you're sound asleep rodents have all darn night to look around & chew, once they know there's a food source they will chew all night long to get in, they have nothing else pressing that they have to do, so they will get in if they are determined. Keep your feed in steel metal cans with lids, too. Plastic containers condensate with temperature fluctuations & feed can get moldy. Many varieties of rodents can chew through wood & the hardest plastics easily. As a kid I caught an interesting looking mouse with really long hind legs in a humane trap, thought it would be cool at school so I put it in a Habitrail. Overnight, that stinker literally chewed an opening in the Habitrail plastic to get out, that is a very hard plastic, I was stunned that little mouse could chew that. Rats are even stronger, they can chew through some wire like poultry netting. Hardware cloth is better. If you do some searches & read through what some people have experienced with rodents, you will agree, keep the food inside & unavailable during the night, store it in metal cans with lids.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Will get pictures up when finished, right now building new coop keeping everyone panicking.

When building my coops, best idea was having a small "lobby" or basically section for me to place metal tins for feed. I end up storing other stuff, a few garden tools as my veggie garden is right near coop. It also has been handy in general, a place to sit with a chicken in my lap when I'm checking bird over, or we get a sudden cloud burst lol.

 

[Sally PB]

I have food in the coop during the day, but remove it at night. I had a HN waterer in the coop, but the chickens never used it and it had a small dripping issue.

The run is gloomy, so I'm running an extension cord out there for lights in the run. Well, if I have electric... might as well get a heated waterer... But out in the run only. Like someone already said, I don't want to take up the coop space, and I don't want the messy water or the wet bedding. And I want the birds to have a reason to come outside.

 

[DYEJOB]

Sometimes so much info on here that it is impossible to find the exact answer

That's because we all do things differently. Different flocks with different flock make-ups. Different goals, climates, management techniques, schedules, rural versus urban, and on and on. What works for one person does not work for another. Or more often, many different things work great. There is no one right way that works for each and every one of us with all other ways being wrong.

Some of us feed/water in the coop only. Some only feed/water outside, some don't even have runs but free range. Some of us feed and water both inside and outside. We all have our own reasons for how we choose. I'll mention a few but I'm sure I'll miss a lot.

Some of us sleep in late, we are not down there really early after the chickens wake up to let them out for food and water so they keep food and water in the coop. They wake up hungry and thirsty. Some people worry that wild birds will eat more feed than the chickens if they feed outside. Many kinds of feed need to be dry and inside may be the only dry place. If you live where it freezes and have electricity to the coop it may be easier to use a heated water dish inside.

Some feel that feeding inside attracts rodents. Chickens poop a lot. If you feed inside the chickens stay inside longer so you have more poop to deal with. The coop may be too small to put feed and water where it won't be pooped in, especially from the roosts. Waterers can leak or water spill. Watering outside may keep your coop drier.

I feed and water both inside and outside. I'm not always up at the crack of dawn to let them out. When I travel I get someone to feed and water them. It's easier to get someone if they don't have to be there at the crack of dawn. With different feed and water stations, especially water, they are less likely to run out, say they spill a waterer. My main reason is that I almost always have juveniles in the flock. With several widely scattered feeding and watering stations they all get to eat and drink without the adults bullying them away from the feed and/or water.

I don't know which way might work best for you and your lifestyle. I generally suggest to do what is most convenient for you and for whatever reasons you want to. Good luck!

Thank you for this brilliant breakdown. My concern was withholding food and water overnight. But that doesn't seem to be the problem. Outside is where my girls will find feed & water. Thanks again!!!