Moved chicken feed

[SaltwaterChickInn]

I moved my chickens feed into their upstairs coop but they do not appear to be going up to eat (I’ve been keeping an eye through the camera) Do they know to go to the new location since they sleep and lay eggs there? I moved it out of the run due to rodents…the coop is secured tight giving no access to rodents. Please help with any knowledge of this. Thank you.

 

[nuthatched]

How long has it been there?

 

[SaltwaterChickInn]

We put it in there yesterday afternoon before we left town. Don’t know if they have sense enough to realize it’s moved into their coop!

 

[K0k0shka]

They're not going to know unless you show them. If they only go into the coop to lay and sleep, they may be focused on those areas (nests and roosts) and not necessarily spend time looking around and noticing that you've moved the feed. They may very well walk past it and not even notice it's there, if they don't know to look for it (chickens aren't all that smart, contrary to chicken fans' claims). Draw their attention to it somehow. Is your coop big enough for you to walk into? (ideally it is... tiny coops are impractical for many reasons, this being one). If it is, go in there and call them over, maybe rattle some treats and put the treats in the feeder as they watch you. When they go for the treats, they'll notice that there's other food there, too. Do this a few times and they'll get the idea. They may still go to the feeder looking for treats, but when they don't find any, and they're hungry, they'll make do with the regular feed. Now, if your coop isn't big enough for you to walk into, figure out a way to still call them over to the feeder - maybe open the human access door and stand there, with your hand next to the feeder, calling them or rattling the treats, or whatever other means you have of drawing the chickens towards you.

 

[Penpal]

You could also lay a trail of food from the entrance to the new feed place. They follow the trail and find the treasure.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Here’s the thing, now that the food is in the coop, the rodents WILL find a way to get in there to eat the food. I used to keep my food under the coop in a secure run, and the damn rats chewed their way in to get the food. I do NOT want rats in the coop so I moved the food to the attached run (not rodent proof) and bring it in at night. I still have rats, but not as many and none in the coop.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I've had my feed in the coop for 30 years & only once had a problem with rats. Rats will definitely get it in the run.

 

[SaltwaterChickInn]

Thank you everyone. I’m moving the food back into the run. My husband found a way to suspend the food from the ceiling (which is plywood) where only the chickens will be able to reach and eat (rodents aren’t tall enough) hopefully this solves our problem.

 

[tlcmurphy]

The rats will climb down into it, they run along the ceiling of our run

 

[aart]

The rats will climb down into it, they run along the ceiling of our run

And they can jump.