Food/Water Placement

[Hickory_Hills]

I’m super new. Just started my flock this year. Where does everyone keep their birds’ food and water?

I’ve been keeping it in their coop. They have access to water outside. But have to go inside for food.

 

[DobieLover]

I keep everything in the attached run with a solid roof.

 

[Muser]

I have an Eglu Coop inside a large run where I keep their treadle feeder and water station. They have a small dish in the garden (where they free range all day) that collects rain water if they can't be bothered to go back to the run and peck toys dotted about for enrichment and snacks.

 

[Debbie292d]

We keep ours in the coop. They free-range by day unless sub-zero temperatures, then get locked in.

We use a 5-gallon nipple bucket so there's no open water in the coop.

 

[FrostRanger]

Welcome!
Everyone has different philosophies on this and different setups and situations. If your current setup is working for you, don't fix what isn't broken

Me personally I have 3 feeders, 1 in the coop and 2 in the run. I have that many 'cause at the time I got the chicks I had 2 older birds including one who was mildly aggressive and definitely food aggressive towards other birds so I wanted to make sure she couldn't keep the the chicks from eating. Unfortunately both of the older ones died due to dogs and I assume random heart attack but I kept the same system as more feeders means less need to compete. I also have 3 waterers, 2 foot baths and a kiddie pool that I keep shallowly filled 'cause it's very hot here

Whatever you decide to do just make sure you have 2 of each to prevent resource guarding

 

[SueT]

I put feed in bowls outside every morning, and it gets removed/cleaned every night so it won't attract varmints. There is a big overhang on the coop and a tarp can be rolled down in front of that, so it almost always stays dry.
There have been mice in the coop, so I never leave it in there.

 

[Muser]

Welcome!
Everyone has different philosophies on this and different setups and situations. If your current setup is working for you, don't fix what isn't broken

Me personally I have 3 feeders, 1 in the coop and 2 in the run. I have that many 'cause at the time I got the chicks I had 2 older birds including one who was mildly aggressive and definitely food aggressive towards other birds so I wanted to make sure she couldn't keep the the chicks from eating. Unfortunately both of the older ones died due to dogs and I assume random heart attack but I kept the same system as more feeders means less need to compete. I also have 3 waterers, 2 foot baths and a kiddie pool that I keep shallowly filled 'cause it's very hot here

Whatever you decide to do just make sure you have 2 of each to prevent resource guarding

That's a good point, I do have 2 feeders, both in the run, but yes, chickens can be real mean about food hogging. Multiples means that all the chickens get food since the mean hen can't be protecting both the feeders at the same time, so less fights overall. I'm lucky my hens aren't food aggressive, but it's good to not encourage fights over food if you can!

 

[Sally PB]

I have three feed bowls. One in the coop, two in the (covered) run. All removed at night. I have one in the coop so it is out of line of sight of the other two. It doesn't matter as much now, but it did when the last batch of chicks was integrating. They could eat in the coop out of line of sight of the older birds.

The water bowl is in the run. I don't keep water in the coop. No water in coop, no spills, no wet mess/dampness.

 

[Hickory_Hills]

Thanks everyone for the advice!! Sorry for the delay. Been kind of busy.
I definitely need to get another feeder! I just one.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I used to just feed them daily in a bowl in the run but I found that any food left in their bowl would attract mice. SO I started leaving their bowl of dry food inside their coop to keep it away from other critters. It's been working well - their door opens on a timer so they are able to have a snack while they wait to get outside. I keep their water in an open trough in the covered run. I have also used cups in the past but I find it much easier to fill up their trough with water since I don't have to unhook a hanging thing.