Do you feed indside or outside the coop?

[Rte.66_chicks]

The feeders are inside; water is inside aand outside. I mistakenly thought that keeping the feeders inside the coop would deter the English Sparrows, but such is not the case. But it keeps the feed dry, even though Kingman probably gets less rain than The1Much!

Treats like BOSS, scratch, leftovers, and their oatmeal/flaxseed/yogurt mash are given outside.

 

[LynneP]

I feed inside 90% of the time to motivate the birds to come to me when I have supper, so I can close the pop doors. Early in the morning, I sometimes put pellets or treats in a rubber bowl out in the roofed run, along with a small rubber bucket of water (unless it's bitter cold). I find it lessens waste to feed indoors and reduces the chance of attracting rodents. I keep my waterer inside too because it's warmer and to avoid algae in summer. We have ample barn cats but I don't want feed spoilage either.

 

[ams3651]

my feed is inside and I brought the water in for winter. I put corn and treats outside.

 

[Texas ChickenZ]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm trying to decide where to build my automatic feeder, and I think I'm going to put it outside now under the covered portion of the run. I don't have much room inside the coop and don't want to crowd the girls anymore than necessary. Thanks!

 

[ooptec]

Hey,

I vote for the outside in the pen.

I kept my coop small so they can warm it a little w/body heat in winter, it's less that 1/2 the length of the building, so not much room more than the roost, the laying boxes and adequate room for a human to fit in between.

The pen is a good size and the coop is one wall, two of the other three are clear poly covered and carpet on the roof. Half the ground is dirt and half straw.

cheers

 

[msgenie516]

Hi,

I have 5 (yes, five) different coops because of having birds of all different ages, which means they need different kinds of food. And I couldn't put the youngest ones with my big ones, anyway, as I think it might turn out to be a massacre. Believe me, I know it's crazy, but it's what I have to do at this point!

If the coop is large enough, I keep the feed and water inside. In the warmer weather, I had the water outdoors, but keeping it indoors now helps keep it from freezing.

However, I have one that isn't large enough and that food and water must go outdoors. But it is covered (and so is the feeder itself) and the food doesn't get wet. I keep a heater under the water so it doesn't freeze, one of those light bulb things and it works great!

My personal preference is to keep the food and water outdoors but not all of the coops have an outdoor area that would keep the food dry. As someone else mentioned, it is hard to see what they are wasting when the food falls into the hay in an indoor area.

Right now, I have some on chick starter, some on chick grower, and some on laying pellets and scratch. I can't wait for the little ones to grow up so I can keep more of them together (as long as they don't attempt to kill each other)! It will be a lot easier to feed them all one type of food.

I also have two young turkeys (10 weeks old) that I haven't let out yet because of their age (too cold, I think, but I'm no expert). I have them on turkey grower (took me a while to find it around here) and, of course, their food and water is indoors.

Just my two cents worth!

Genie

 

[Elizabeth Ann]

Mine free range so in the summer so then I feed them outside. The winter I feed inside. If I want to give them yogurt or some meat scrapes (they LOVE venison burger raw) I put it in a large bowl so it won't be too messy in the coop.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Outside

 

[SewingDiva]

Outside, hung under the coop with a wind break around three sides.