Do you remove feed from run at night?

[ThinkingChickens]

I bring my feed in. We hope to get a rubbermaid deck box with a locking lid soon where we'll be able to lock up the food for the night.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I LOVE my Rat Zappers! I bought mine off eBay. I do NOT put them out when there are very tiny chicks running around, though...... if a broody hatches chicks, I pull the RatZappers out of the coops (just keeping the ones inside my house active).

 

[karlamaria]

All food and water is in the coop, extra water and seed mix, goodies and grit over by my porch. When they go to bed all I have to do is bring the dishes in and clean them.and they go to there coop and eat all day if they like. But usually they eat my treats and drink the water and grit and stay clear of the coop as I let them out of the run and they spend the day in my yard chewing on bugs grass and other munchies lol

 

[triplepurpose]

I don't use a feeder. I put the feed in a pair of troughs twice a day from a large plastic trash can next to the coop where I keep the bag of feed. And the scraps and other things get thrown onto the ground in the run so that the parts of things they don't eat become incorporated into the the litter. But I only feed them scraps earlier in the day, unless I'm certain they will eat most everything edible before dark, and I make sure that I only give them as much feed as they will eat at the end of the day, and if any is left over, I scoop it out of the troughs and put it away in the feed bin. I do this so that I don't encourage the rodents, although we have had rats almost as long as we've had chickens, no matter how many I trap, shoot, or smoke out--it kind of goes with the territory unless you accomplish the nearly impossible, and to make the entire chicken structure rat-proof--even then, all it takes is one tiny hole... Coexistence is fine, as long as I keep them on the defensive so they don't get bold.

 

[sadies chicks]

Quote:
I LOVE my Rat Zappers! I bought mine off eBay. I do NOT put them out when there are very tiny chicks running around, though...... if a broody hatches chicks, I pull the RatZappers out of the coops (just keeping the ones inside my house active).

What the heck is a rat zapper?

 

[gryeyes]

Ahhh! A RatZapper is a mouse / rat "trap." It uses batteries to provide an electical shock to the little rodent and it kills them immediately. No squeak, no SNAP! no mangled, not-killed mousies. No poisons. The mouse enters the trap and goes to the back to get the dry cat kibble "bait" (just a couple of kibbles will do) and steps on the metal floor plate, completing the electrical circuit. ZAP!

A little red light on the top of the trap begins to blink, indicating it's been activated.

Ya pick up the trap, look inside, and then dump it, never having to touch the rodent's body at all. I fling the bodies into the yard and my chickens make short work of the carcass. Nice source of animal protein for 'em, too.

You reset the trap, put it back down, and wait for the next mousie to enter.

 

[sadies chicks]

Quote:
OOOOhhhhh sounds nifty! I will need to tell DH about that one. thanks!!

 

[Patricia Jane]

Quote:
x2

 

[Boudicea Farms]

I feed in the coop every morning and scratch in the run, feeder is usually almost empty at night, don't have a problem with mice my birds eat them, as disgusting as it sounds I allow my girls to free range in the afternoon and no more mice in the hay or goat barn, I have an austrolorpe and a Barred rock that hunt better than most cats.

 

[nicokl502]

I say remove it the reason why is one night I didn't get home till late and went to bring there food in and found bug all around so from then on always bring there food in before night fall and have never seen a bug, there nothing for them to eat so i guess they moved on but i always keep water in there coop and put there food in there run, and they don't seem to mind if they don't have food at night they are sleeping anyways,