Plans for designing new coop. Feed and watering.

[Chicken_man_J]

I currently have water buckets insides and outside my coop. Have food dish internally that I fill every morning. Was debating on going to Horizontal Water Nipples from Tractor Supply the Backyard Barnyard for 13.99. What are your ideas for less water and feed loss. I feed laying hen pellets bought from a local feed store where there are made. Want less water loss being it is filled with ACV, electrolytes and vitamins. I have a 2 gallon inside and 5 gallon outside. My hens free range during the day and cooped at night. Attached is a picture of the inside of my coop with feeding dish on the far end. Looking for some advice and ideas. Thank you.

 

[nuthatched]

Do you have two waterers? You should always have a second source of plain water when giving supplements and give those supplements for no more than 10 days.
Here's the feeder and waterer section, full of helpful designs.
 https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/feeders-waterers.26/

 

[Chicken_man_J]

Do you have two waterers? You should always have a second source of plain water when giving supplements and give those supplements for no more than 10 days.
Here's the feeder and waterer section, full of helpful designs.
 https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/feeders-waterers.26/

I'm fairly new to the chicken world. I know horses ad cattle as have worked cows on a horse. Any information gained will help me out and be appreciated. I keep on bucket wit water and ACV, guessing that is not plain water. What are your theories on water and vitamins. Is there specific supplements. First time hearing supplements for less than 10 days. I attempted to search for a page on water and supplements and didn't locate one. Wanting to learn. I have one waterer in the coop and one outside. A 5 gallon outside and 2 gallon in the coop.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm fairly new to the chicken world. I know horses ad cattle as have worked cows on a horse. Any information gained will help me out and be appreciated. I keep on bucket wit water and ACV, guessing that is not plain water. What are your theories on water and vitamins. Is there specific supplements. First time hearing supplements for less than 10 days. I attempted to search for a page on water and supplements and didn't locate one. Wanting to learn. I have one waterer in the coop and one outside. A 5 gallon outside and 2 gallon in the coop.

Vitamins can be toxic in excessive amounts, so they shouldn't be on them constantly without an option for clean, plain water. Same practice with Acv, there's few benefits. Imagine being forced to drink exclusively Gatorade, they need to have a fresh water option.

 

[Chicken_man_J]

Vitamins can be toxic in excessive amounts, so they shouldn't be on them constantly without an option for clean, plain water. Same practice with Acv, there's few benefits. Imagine being forced to drink exclusively Gatorade, they need to have a fresh water option.

So ACV and I've been using Rooster Booster Vitamins and Electrolytes with Lactobacillus Poultry Supplement. Therefor, limit vitamins to brief periods and always have a plain water water.

 

[nuthatched]

So ACV and I've been using Rooster Booster Vitamins and Electrolytes with Lactobacillus Poultry Supplement. Therefor, limit vitamins to brief periods and always have a plain water water.

Correct

 

[aart]

So ACV and I've been using Rooster Booster Vitamins and Electrolytes with Lactobacillus Poultry Supplement. Therefor, limit vitamins to brief periods and always have a plain water water.

There's really no need for all that stuff....a good chicken ration and clean plain water is all they need.

 

[BirdPerson]

My coop is much smaller than yours, but I wanted something that works inside and out. I just recently got the same watering cups as you have coming out of your bucket, but I'm also trying these feed holes. So far they've been pretty good, and you can unload as much feed as your container allows and the chickens can't scratch it out. I built mine into a new compartment sacrificing a few inches in the coop but it should work just fine on a covered bin, bucket, or trash can. Just search "chicken feeder port" on Amazon.

P.S. if you do build it into the wall, you could do what I did and have some openings on the inside, some outside. Many of the kits come with screw-on caps in case you wanted to close off one or all of the ports

 

[Chicken_man_J]

My coop is much smaller than yours, but I wanted something that works inside and out. I just recently got the same watering cups as you have coming out of your bucket, but I'm also trying these feed holes. So far they've been pretty good, and you can unload as much feed as your container allows and the chickens can't scratch it out. I built mine into a new compartment sacrificing a few inches in the coop but it should work just fine on a covered bin, bucket, or trash can. Just search "chicken feeder port" on Amazon.

P.S. if you do build it into the wall, you could do what I did and have some openings on the inside, some outside. Many of the kits come with screw-on caps in case you wanted to close off one or all of the ports

Did your hens know how to get feed or did you show them? I noticed your cups are in a PVC are you loosing water?

 

[BirdPerson]

Did your hens know how to get feed or did you show them? I noticed your cups are in a PVC are you loosing water?

They found it pretty quick. Once you fill it up over the hole level, it becomes very easily visible even before sticking their head i.
This was my first time trying the PVC waterers... I don't think I'm losing any to leaks. I have one "teen" duckling in there who wastes some of it no matter what container, but so far everything's holding. The online reviews for those cups had some pretty bad experiences where a bird knocks into it too hard or something fails and your entire water reservoir ends up all over the floor. I've had this for less than a week so it's too soon to tell on longevity, but at least out of the box it's pretty good.
It's also really easy to unscrew and of the water dishes if they fail and replace with a smaller/sturdier one. It seems they're all made of 1/8 thread.