Can this marriage be saved?

[21hens-incharge]

I have food in the coop and water in the run....in winter I put a water dish in the coop as I have electric in there and can run a deicer.

That said I do remove food at night. Even then mice have made entry by chewing the doorways.

 

[sealer39]

I have two waterers in every coop/run just in case one of the nipples fails, they will have a spare.

 

[SueT]

Chickens don't drink or eat at night. I close them up at night, let them out at dawn. Ours have food and water outside. All food, whether inside or out should be removed every night because of mice and other varmints that you wouldn't want to attract. If you have room inside for water, and don't get up as early as the chickens, why not leave it in....

 

[blackdog043]

You will never get a 100% agreeable answer for this. Everybody has a different reason, for pro's and cons. If you go on vacation and are relying on someone to look after your flock, I would put one in there while your away at least. The auto door may fail if you have one and they may not get down there early to open a manual door. I've read stories that didn't have a good outcome, when people went away and thought they had a good person taking care of their animals.

My coop and run are open 24/7 and I have feed and water in the coop and run. Why in both places, because I can and want to! It also provides different areas for food and water, in case you get some of your flock that gets chased from either. I use horizontal nipples on my waterers. The one inside the coop has a plant saucer under it to catch dribbles when they use it, so the bedding doesn't get wet. The nipples don't drip on there own. I never take the feed in or cover openings on it. I don't have a problem with feed disappearing. I don't have any openings bigger than 1/2 inch on my set up.

 

[mandymcg05]

You will never get a 100% agreeable answer for this. Everybody has a different reason, for pro's and cons. If you go on vacation and are relying on someone to look after your flock, I would put one in there while your away at least. The auto door may fail if you have one and they may not get down there early to open a manual door. I've read stories that didn't have a good outcome, when people went away and thought they had a good person taking care of their animals.

My coop and run are open 24/7 and I have feed and water in the coop and run. Why in both places, because I can and want to! It also provides different areas for food and water, in case you get some of your flock that gets chased from either. I use horizontal nipples on my waterers. The one inside the coop has a plant saucer under it to catch dribbles when they use it, so the bedding doesn't get wet. The nipples don't drip on there own. I never take the feed in or cover openings on it. I don't have a problem with feed disappearing. I don't have any openings bigger than 1/2 inch on my set up.

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Thats a nifty watering machine there! My nipple feeder leaks like crazy and ruins bedding DAILY!!! Im glad you posted this. Very interesting to hear the different point of views!!

 

[Tamdog]

In a few days our nearly 6 week old chicks will be moving out of the house and into a coop/run arrangement with a large area of green forage.
My husband and I had decided not to provide feed or water in the coop for many reasons. Now, having hand raised these precious babies, I’ve decided there should be water available in the coop. My husband does not agree. Strongly.

What if the pop door doesn’t pop? What if we don’t get down to the coop early to let them out? How long can a chicken go without water?

Our coop is not air conditioned. We use nipple waterers so dripping is minimal. For bedding we’re starting with pine shavings but may switch to sand sometime in the future.

I think he’s just being stubborn because it wasn’t his idea. I, on the other hand, will listen to reason if someone out there can convince me I shouldn’t have these concerns. I know there’s a slight chance of differing opinions and that’s good for the sake of my argument.

I also live in NC. I do understand the whole "no food or water" and the reasons he would not want to do that - but NC is so hot all summer I would vote for them having a small poultry waterer jug. - Especially since this summer they will still be so young. I purchased a very Extra large ceramic plant pot saucer and put it under the water jug. The heavy ceramic (or clay) saucer is impossible to flip so the bit of water that drips out is captured in the saucer. ( I hate 98* hot muggy NC summers and I was born here) I can not imagine how dehydrated they would be if the door failed. - but in the end maybe try it his way and hope he will see differently soon. Maybe make a deal to take the water out this fall when they are older.

 

[pozees2]

I think the way you keep your own flock is pretty individual to your lifestyle. We are always up before the sun, and I like seeing my birds first thing in the morning, so I manually open all the coops and put the feed in the runs. At night, I close coops, pick up all the feeders and put them in the shed coop outside the pens in there, which is tighter but still not 100% rodent proof, so I keep electronic traps in there. Water is in the runs 24/7, because spilling waterers is a hobby of mine, and I'd rather spill them outside. I don't want to do anything that attracts more mice, and even if you don't have them now, once there is poultry feed around, you will have them. Chickens do not eat or drink at night, so I see no reason to keep food or water available once they've gone to roost. It gets hot hot hot here in summer, over 100 degrees, sometimes for days on end, to the extent we keep wading pools in the runs all summer and shade cloth over the top of the runs. It works for us. If keeping food and water in the coop works for you, then that's what you do. There just isn't any one always 100% right way to do things, especially when it comes to chickens, because for every rule there's a keeper who's not read it and had chickens do just fine for 30 years.

 

[One Lucky Momma]

I think the way you keep your own flock is pretty individual to your lifestyle. We are always up before the sun, and I like seeing my birds first thing in the morning, so I manually open all the coops and put the feed in the runs. At night, I close coops, pick up all the feeders and put them in the shed coop outside the pens in there, which is tighter but still not 100% rodent proof, so I keep electronic traps in there. Water is in the runs 24/7, because spilling waterers is a hobby of mine, and I'd rather spill them outside. I don't want to do anything that attracts more mice, and even if you don't have them now, once there is poultry feed around, you will have them. Chickens do not eat or drink at night, so I see no reason to keep food or water available once they've gone to roost. It gets hot hot hot here in summer, over 100 degrees, sometimes for days on end, to the extent we keep wading pools in the runs all summer and shade cloth over the top of the runs. It works for us. If keeping food and water in the coop works for you, then that's what you do. There just isn't any one always 100% right way to do things, especially when it comes to chickens, because for every rule there's a keeper who's not read it and had chickens do just fine for 30 years.

Thanks for your thoughtful thoughts. Do you keep wading pools for the chickens? How deep is the water?

 

[Buckeye Amy]

I keep the feed in the coop, water outside unless it's winter time. Then the water is inside on a heated base.

 

[pozees2]

Thanks for your thoughtful thoughts. Do you keep wading pools for the chickens? How deep is the water?

Yes, but not actual pools, just black rubber feed tubs, maybe 5 inches deep, just dump and refill daily. Some actually stand in them as intended, others just think it's a more interesting place to drink from