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

[K8T]

My indoor ducks get feed 3 times a day. They basically ask for food if they're hungry it seems. I leave food out if I'm gone for longer than 3 hours.

 

[GardenJen77]

Right now mine are still inside, the food and water is taken up right before dark and they get it back at 5:30-6am. They get a treat before bed--tomatoes, cucumbers , strawberries , oatmeal, etc. They are quiet and actually sleep. Before I made the decision on the food they were not sleeping, they were up all night. Once outside--ducks will be locked in their house and chickens in the coop up higher. Food and water will be in the coop area for chickens., but not where they sleep.

When I feed them in the morning they aren't bad, most of the time they are just starting to move around. The Pekin starts quacking if she hears the dogs or my alarm clock.

When mine were inside I didn't take it away for the chicks, mostly because they emptied it and used it as a roost before bed. The ducks I did once they were about 4 weeks old, for as you mentioned they tended to stay up.

Now both flocks of babies are outside. Again, the chickens I don't take away their food. It hangs from the rafters in the coop, so no problems there, the ducks we do though because they eat out of a large feed bowl that is on the ground, and we have a couple of times found it had been emptied and tipped over during the night, so obviously a varmint was eating it. Don't have issues with mice as we have two outdoor cats who do a good job of keeping that under control.

Let me tell you though lol. I have 9 Pekins now, outside, and boy, when they are out of food and hear you coming, I swear my neighbor five miles down the road can hear them.

 

[Aji Dulce]

Right now mine are still inside, the food and water is taken up right before dark and they get it back at 5:30-6am. They get a treat before bed--tomatoes, cucumbers , strawberries , oatmeal, etc. They are quiet and actually sleep. Before I made the decision on the food they were not sleeping, they were up all night. Once outside--ducks will be locked in their house and chickens in the coop up higher. Food and water will be in the coop area for chickens., but not where they sleep.

When I feed them in the morning they aren't bad, most of the time they are just starting to move around. The Pekin starts quacking if she hears the dogs or my alarm clock.

I do the same. Food and water only in their run, which is where they hang out most of the time as they're still only 8 weeks old. As soon as they go up to the coop and the automatic door shuts for the night, I retrieve their feeder. Water stays out because it's a covered tank with drinking cups. It is important to give them back their food as soon as THEY wake up; I read about someone who didn't let them out of their coop until 10 am and you have to think by that time, they've been up for 4 hours. Please, don't anyone make me wait 4 hours to get my first cup of coffee!

 

[Blue Crow]

They get dry crumble free choice to cut down an the "OMG food noise" that morning putting food out was causing. I'm in suburbia so being extra considerate of the neighbors never hurts.

They get mash in the evening which they love and gets a loud round of beeps and quacks but by then ambient noise is up too.

water is left in all the time - I'm in the south and my area gets quite hot and humid and it can linger well into the night so I feel making sure they have water to poop away the heat is important and to make sure things stay constant for them they will get water all the time no mater the weather