chick feeders/waterers

[chirpchirp]

good afternoon all! i have 25 chicks coming from Welp in June, and i was wondering how long chicks can use chick feeders and waterers before they outgrow them and need regular ones? also, for 25 (grown)chickens, would i need more than one feeder/waterer? should i have feeders/waterers inside the coop and outside? i am a total newbie and am trying to figure out the best way to raise my new pets! thanks...

 

[jenjscott]

How long they are good for depends on how often you want to fill them. by a couple of weeks, I am usually graduating to a bigger waterer, not because they can't use it, but because they drink or spill it all. If you have litter and you don't raise the waterer, you will drive yourself crazy trying to keep the chips out of the waterer.

I worried at first about the little ones being able to get up to a raised waterer, but once they know where it is and are drinking well, you can put it on a platform as high as their backs, and they can hop right up on it.

As adults, it depends on the size of the feeder and waterer how many you need. I free feed mine so in general they're not all at the feeder at the same time, they don't even all get up at the same time, so I don't need as much space as I would if they were all released to the feed at the same time. Unless of course, you have meat chickens, then they are at the feeder every daylight minute, eating continuously.

A lot of people don't leave food in the coop because it attracts rodents. However, If you are going to lock them in at night, and don't want to get up until later in the AM, it might be fairer to provide them with food and water in the coop.

And, it also depends on your weather in the winter, if they will be in the coop for long hours, then it may be better to keep some in the coop.