Do you bring your hens' feed indoors each night?

[thecreekhouse]

Or do you leave it in the locked coop? I worry that the feeder with feed in it is a draw for
Predators but maybe I'm just being too much of a worrier?

 

[QueenMisha]

I pour all mine into metal trash cans which are located just outside the coop. Yes it could be a draw for predators but I would much rather have them eating my feed than my birds. And generally if it is tightly stored and not scattered everywhere it won't be very detectable anyways.

 

[JoeP]

I pour all mine into metal trash cans which are located just outside the coop. Yes it could be a draw for predators but I would much rather have them eating my feed than my birds. And generally if it is tightly stored and not scattered everywhere it won't be very detectable anyways.

I agree. However it's not only predators you might have to worry about if you leave out feed.
You easily could be attracting rats to your coop/house as well. My suggestion is to pull any left over feed at the end of the day. Keep your eyes open for holes in the ground around your coop. That is a sign of rats.

 

[Big Bubba]

I've problems with rodents in the past. So, one of the things I do is feed them outside their coop. Bringing feed in at night is a necessity. Although, in my case, I have a treadle so I installed a lock on it so absolutely nothing can get in.

The other thing is this; you'll end up with some of it on the ground. I think that is pretty hard to avoid. What I do is I made a shallow box with hardwood cover and put the treadle on top of it. So whatever is spilled goes into this box and nothing can get to it.