food and water availability

[Oscgrr]

My chickens are confined to their coop only at night. I go outside just after the sun sets and they're all in the coop and on the roost. I let them out into the run first thing in the morning and give them fresh water and some BOSS. I put the food in the coop at night. I figure this is the best way to keep wild animals from helping themselves. I also have a water dish in the coop, it's a red saucer with a screw on plastic "bottle" in the center. They have a large black rubber waterdish in the run. This winter, Cape Cod, it's certainly going to get below freezing. Do I need to keep a water supply in the coop if they have access to water all day in the run? The water in the run will likely freeze but I can just knock it out of the dish and fill it with fresh, I'm home all day. I imagine they can go the entire night without access to water but this is my first flock and I could be wrong. I don't want to have water in the coop mostly because the coop is kinda smallish and not something I can walk into. You can see it on my BYC page (I'm still trying to figure how to set the page up so it's kinda messy).

Thanks for any advice.

 

[kristen2678]

My chickens have access to food and water all day. I pull the water at night. They were just making a mess with it. They will need to have access to fresh drinking water all day even in freezing weather. I run out to change it a couple times a day. Others use heated waterers or electric dog bowls.

 

[dsqard]

I keep my food inside the coop all the time. I made some PVC feeders that hang on the studs inside the coop. No more mess or waste once I started using them. I just recently started putting the water inside the coop since the temperatures are freezing the water at night. Right now I give them warm fresh water in the morning and check it again in the afternoon to make sure that it has not frozen. If it has I give them more warm water. I have two double walled waterers and just keep rotating them to make sure they have fresh water. This is my first winter with chickens and I have to say, I wish I still lived in AZ where you don't have to worry so much about frozen hoses and waterers.

 

[Oscgrr]

Oops. Sorry, I didn't notice there was a topic in the index already designated "Feeding and Watering..." I appreciate the responses I've gotten so far, thank you. I'll pay more attention next time.