For sure, containers. I never wanted to store feed in the bags. I think I'll stick to the kitty litter containers since I can haul them to the coop, and they're free. If I saved $3 on each bag of feed when it's on sale, and it costs $27 for a Costco tub, I wouldn't break even until I had bought 9 bags of feed on sale. Since it looks like I can't store the feed, even unopened, unless I have a container, it would take me years to break even on even a few containers.
I'm all for reusing and recycling whenever possible. Our run & coop is constructed almost entirely from recycled materials. We chose to spend the money on the food containers when we had a dog and a cat for pets. We had problems with mice, possums, rats getting into the food in the garage and the dog getting into the food bags if we left them in the house for any period of time. We tried using plastic garbage cans but I guess we bought cheap ones and the lids were not animal proof. We lost both our cat and our dog before we got chickens and were happy to reuse the containers for chicken food. I just shovel the food out of the container into a 5 gallon bucket and load the feeders once every week or two. It works for us and the containers will last my lifetime and beyond! I'm sure the kids will be thrilled to inherit them!
The 5-gallon buckets sound great. I can sympathize with the pets getting into the bags when stored in the house. (Cats are rodents who purr.
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Also, convenience means a gazillion different things. for some, it's having 6 months of feed stored up. For others, it's filling the feeders the easiest way. For me, it might mean letting Concord Feed store the bags until I need them, at the price of $3 per bag.
Bridget seems really good this morning. She ate like a pig, had a nice warm bath, and is already picking at Yolanda's beard. Still worried about that enlarged squishy abdomen though.
It's not making sense to me anymore.
