Location of Feeder/Waterer

Good Afternoon Y'all,

Hope you're well. So my question concerns where to place my waterer and feeder. I've attached a picture below for better understanding. Both the waterer and feeder are going to be 5-gallon buckets. I have a flock of 12 chickens, and I'm going to be attaching a long run to the coop to give them more space. For sake of argument, I going to refer to the wooden house portion as the coop, and the dirt portion below as the run.

So I wanted to place the feeder and waterer under the coop hanging from one of the beams. The issue is that at night I was considering closing the small door on the coop to secure them from tenacious predators as well as the cold. If I do that, however, they can't eat because the feeder and waterer will be outside in the run, under the coop. There is a main door, as seen in the picture, but I'm all about added layers of protection. Should I place the feeder and waterer in the run or the coop.

The measurements for the coop are 4' x 10' x 3.25' (LxWxH), which gives me approximately 40sqft. According to the research I've done, chicken coops need approximately 4sqft per chicken.

Anyway, thanks for any help and insight y'all offer.

Have a great day!

Chickens don't eat or drink at night, so as long as they are let out around dawn and not locked in until dusk it is not a problem to have the food in the run. I don't have food and water I my coop for space reasons and they are fine.

I agree, as long as you open the door at dawn and close at dusk you will be fine. Personally I have mine in the coop because it fits to my floor plan. In your case it would be better under the coop.

Hope you have a great time with your chickens!

Your climate can make be a factor......
....adding your location to your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

I keep both feed and water inside coop, it's easier for me(feed is stored inside coop building) and for the birds as they are on supplemental winter light and get up and start to eat way before I think about going out to open coop.

The waterer is a closed and heated vessel so adding humidity is not really a factor like it would be with an open waterer.

My climate is also a factor, they spent 2 solid days inside the coop(their choice) during the last snow storm.

Rodents are another concern, leaving food out in the run at night I would be feeding legions of mice and I ain't gonna do that....it can also attract wild song birds to feed in my run and who knows what else I might attract if I left feed out there.

So those are my reasons to keep food and water in side coop, but I have a large walk in coop inside a larger shed.

blumenmadchen said:

Chickens don't eat or drink at night, so as long as they are let out around dawn and not locked in until dusk it is not a problem to have the food in the run. I don't have food and water I my coop for space reasons and they are fine.

Click to expand...

*2

blumenmadchen said:

Chickens don't eat or drink at night, so as long as they are let out around dawn and not locked in until dusk it is not a problem to have the food in the run. I don't have food and water I my coop for space reasons and they are fine.

Click to expand...

barneveldrerman said:

I agree, as long as you open the door at dawn and close at dusk you will be fine. Personally I have mine in the coop because it fits to my floor plan. In your case it would be better under the coop.

Hope you have a great time with your chickens!

Click to expand...

I agree with yall. I'm thinking that it's going to have to be trial and error. I've read several other places that essentially allude to the same thing - they tend to rest, not eat, at night. We'll see how it goes..

aart said:

Your climate can make be a factor......
....adding your location to your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

I keep both feed and water inside coop, it's easier for me(feed is stored inside coop building) and for the birds as they are on supplemental winter light and get up and start to eat way before I think about going out to open coop.

The waterer is a closed and heated vessel so adding humidity is not really a factor like it would be with an open waterer.

My climate is also a factor, they spent 2 solid days inside the coop(their choice) during the last snow storm.

Rodents are another concern, leaving food out in the run at night I would be feeding legions of mice and I ain't gonna do that....it can also attract wild song birds to feed in my run and who knows what else I might attract if I left feed out there.

So those are my reasons to keep food and water in side coop, but I have a large walk in coop inside a larger shed.

Click to expand...

Being in Southeast Louisiana (I'll put in my profile), I'm most worried about roaches, rats, and perhaps some other critters. We'll see how it goes. If it doesn't work, I'll just move the feeder and waterer inside the coop. Hoping it won't come to that though.

All part of the fun, right?

Thanks for all yall's help.

Chickenpatty84 said:

I'll just move the feeder and waterer inside the coop.

Click to expand...

There's also nothing to say that they have to stay in the same place all the time.... If you have fixtures in different places, you can move it about as weather (or anything else) dictates.