Feed in the run (Covered Chicken Coop)

[Neolones]

I have 2 hens & 2 young pullets. I currently have two feeders outside the covered run. They spend almost all day in the garden & in the uncovered run. I would like to leave the feeders inside the covered run, so when it rains it does not get wet. I would assume they would go in to eat, if they are hungry, correct?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Correct. If they have access and want to eat what you are offering them, they will eat it. If they are foraging for a lot of their food, they may not eat that much of what you offer them. A lot o that depends on the quality of the forage. It's quite possible they will only eat your feed at certain times of the day.

That is pretty much what I do, keep feed dry in the coop and covered run and let them forage in other areas. They don't starve.

 

[azygous]

I wish like crazy we could know up front where you are from because it would give us a hint of how much biomass you have for your chickens.

For example, you will notice my profile states I live in the southern Rockies in Colorado and most folks will be able to determine that my environment is extremely arid and the soil too rocky to support the biomass to adequately supply nutrition to my chickens.

Likewise, a person that states they are from equatorial Africa would have the sort of lush biomass most of us from desert environments would envy. Chickens is such a lush environment can get along very well on foraging alone.

Sermon over. If you wish for your chickens to use a feeder that is located inside their run, you need to habituate them to using it before you let them roam. Once they know it's there, they will return to it to satisfy what free ranging lacks in nutrition.

However, if you live in a semi-tropical climate such as south Florida or a tropical one such as Hawaii, I wouldn't expect chickens to bother much with a feeder no matter where it's located.

 

[Neolones]

I live in Houston, TX. We get so much rain, really humid. The entire run was my garden, so they have fruit trees, flowers & bunch of other plants they hang out. Plus they have access to grass.

 

[azygous]

Can't get any better than humid sub-tropical with tropical enhancement. Plants and insects must be so abundant, your chickens are happily scratching around all the live-long day.

My chickens say they want to come live with you.

 

[aart]

My chickens say they want to come live with you.

But only in the winter, right?
That would make them snow birds!