Fixing bad behavior? Help!

[BigBlueHen53]

True, but who wants to have to be in the coop at daylight and back at dusk to move the feeder and water? Bringing in the feed at night just means any vermin feed during the day. Doesn't stop feed theft, just changes the time of day the theft occurs.

Why is this so hard? DH goes out in the morning to open the coop to let the chickens out anyway, that's when he puts the feeders out and fills the water buckets. At dusk he goes out to lock up the coop, and that's when he puts the two feed buckets back in the well house and locks them up. No need to do anything with the waterers at night, they're in the run, not in the hen house. We don't seem to have vermin during the day, the dogs, cats and chickens themselves see to that.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time.

In my opinion, not having the feed available 24/7 puts you at the mercy of the chickens, you aren't raising them, they are raising you. And the OP in this thread was super well intentioned but had no idea she was starving her flock and blamed the bad behavior on the chickens. Keeping the feed in front of the hens 24/7 eliminates so much trouble. But that is just my opinion.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time

Thank you, I am truly blessed! My DH is still working though he just turned 70. We do still have kids at home as well, grandkids actually, young adults now,, and we are so blessed to have them. I don't know what I would do without them, with my health issues. We probably have the same or similar demands on our time and energies as everyone else but we care for our chickens in the ways that work best for us. As everybody must. What works for you, works for you. There is no "one way" or "right way" or "best way." I was only suggesting "our way" in case OP might find it helpful to her. Blessings.