Feed Question: Do you take away the poultry's feed at night? Why or why not?

[Trish1974]

X2 Lazy gardener and SueT. Chickens roost at night so why risk attracting rodents by leaving out food?

 

[acceabex]

I think your observed experience depends on how your animals were conditioned.

You leave food down all night. They are used to that. If you remove it, of course they will go into primal panic thinking the food is scarce... "It has never been limited before, but now it is. Yikes!!!!"

Contrast that with someone that has removed food nightly since hatching. The animals, over months or years, know the food is coming back in the morning, so it's no panic.

I don't think any experience rescuing is relevant, removing food over night isn't a threat to health and safety (it reads as though it was insinuated). I also don't eat over night, hence why I'm happily enjoying my BREAK-FAST.

Every situation is different... From rodents to temperatures to conditioning of the animals. There's no right or wrong answer. E.g if you live in a perpetually cold climate, they need more groceries, you may choose to leave the food down. On the other hand, if you live next door but have a high rodent load, you may pick the food up but feed high caloric food. If you have ducks, you may pick it up because they earned the name waterFOWL. If you have chickens, you may leave it down.

Just my two cents from a nutrition/behavioral perspective.

 

[1cock2hens]

I always remove feed at night to prevent pests but i leave water. no reason why i leave the water, I'm just lazy. My chickens are used to this feeding schedule and dont rush me when i feed them they stay back and calmly approach, they dont gorge.

and just fyi sunflour, a mouse can fit in a hole the size of a dime so you could have visitors you arent aware of.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think this has to be up to the individual person and what their set up is like.

When I have ducklings they are with their mama and in a separate area from the rest of the birds they get feed and water 24/7 until They are around 3 weeks old by then they are sleeping with the rest of the flock, Once in with the rest of the flock no food or water is left inside. I have been doing it this way since 2004 and haven't lost a one. I do the same with chicks unless I am brooding myself and using a heat lamp then they get access to feed and water 24/7 till they can go outside and be with the rest of the birds.
I look at it like this in the wild mama duck/chicken takes her babies to a safe place to sleep once it's dark they are tucked in till dawn no eating or drinking while dark. So it's up to us as to how we manage our birds as long as they are not being abused or starved.

I keep feed and water out from daylight to late evening right before dark and they happily eat till their hearts content during that time plus all the foraging they want.

 

[Redhead Rae]

We have mobile coops in an electrified poultry netting paddock. We feed them in the paddock. Leaving food out would just attract pests and predators. We feed them first thing in the morning (and it is usually gone within an hour), kitchen scraps in the evening, they forage in their paddock the rest of the day and they all usually go to roost with a full crop. That is what a chicken's crop is for, so they can eat enough food during the day to keep them fed as they roost overnight.

 

[carlyducks]

My ducks have access to food & water 24/7 except at night. their food and water is kept in their pen all day from the time i let them out (sunrise) until the time i put them to bed (sundown). I don't keep food and water in their house where they sleep for many reasons. attracting animals, spilling their water and choking on food, & making a huge mess where they sleep.. etc..

 

[GardenJen77]

Hello, your post was not Chickens. It was Ducks. I leave feed and water in my Chickens Coop because they sleep all night. My Ducks would make such a mess with water that I would go broke replacing wet bedding daily.. I remove feed and water at night..I lock my Ducks up each night and let them out first thing in the morning..

Thanks for notating that I did post this in the DUCK forum. I did this, because this is where the discussion had started, even though this post does indeed relate to ALL poultry that people may be raising, because people do things differently, and this thread is intended to "catch" all the information together from everyone and be easily accessible.

My ducks are in a run with a coop that they do not generally use. I was told that ducks don't use coops generally and prefer to be outside, I also do not have "barns or sheds" that would be suitable to lock them in. The coop is there for bad wether and to keep their feed dry. Their water is outside in the run. Being such, I don't have to worry about the bedding getting ruined.

 

[GardenJen77]

We have mobile coops in an electrified poultry netting paddock. We feed them in the paddock. Leaving food out would just attract pests and predators. We feed them first thing in the morning (and it is usually gone within an hour), kitchen scraps in the evening, they forage in their paddock the rest of the day and they all usually go to roost with a full crop. That is what a chicken's crop is for, so they can eat enough food during the day to keep them fed as they roost overnight.

Good info.

My chickens are free range now mostly. I do know that they really don't "Eat" overnight, but it is just easier to keep the food in there for when they do wake. I had my chickens laying all winter and to do that, I had a light on a timer that would turn on at 3:30 am. Now, I am not sure about you, but I for one wouldn't want to be getting up at that time to hustle food out there for them. Also, when my hens go back to the coop to lay their eggs, they will grab a bite to eat before heading back out, and/or the chickens that are at the lower end of the pecking order, will use the quiet time to come in and eat while they others are out and about.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Good info.

My chickens are free range now mostly. I do know that they really don't "Eat" overnight, but it is just easier to keep the food in there for when they do wake. I had my chickens laying all winter and to do that, I had a light on a timer that would turn on at 3:30 am. Now, I am not sure about you, but I for one wouldn't want to be getting up at that time to hustle food out there for them. Also, when my hens go back to the coop to lay their eggs, they will grab a bite to eat before heading back out, and/or the chickens that are at the lower end of the pecking order, will use the quiet time to come in and eat while they others are out and about.

I let my chickens take a break during the winter. Laying is hard on their systems and they need a rest. Most of the birds I have now will be breeding stock, so I want to keep them healthy. I may at some point, start a "laying flock" of hybrids that I keep laying all year. This year, I'm experimenting with storing eggs in lyme water to use over the winter.

 

[MillersFarm]

I limit the amount of feed I give my animals, I only feed them once in the morning, Then they're out free ranging the rest of the day on 35+ acres eating grubs and what-not from my manure/compost piles. I make sure they don't have any left over feed as I do not like the idea of rodents eating left over feed in my coops.. Leaving feed out in the coops can also attract raccoons which can turn out pretty ugly if the raccoon isn't satisfied with just chicken feed..