How old before having food only in the run?

[6of6chicks]

I'm guessing my girls are still too young for this (6 wks. on Tuesday), but I'm just wondering how old they need to be before I can take the food out of the coop and have food only available in the run? Right now they have food and water in both places (and I plan to keep water in both places), but so much food gets wasted in the coop (lost under the litter). I let them into the run each morning (pretty much at sunrise) and they have access to both the coop & run all day. They chow down at the run feeder as soon as they get in there, even though it's the exact same feed (chick starter) that is in the coop. They also get some sort of garden treat once a day in the run (corn cob, greens, etc.) usually in the afternoon.

Of course I'm NOT trying to restrict their food, but I had read that when they are grown they really only use the coop to sleep anyway, so there is no point in putting food in there. Just wondering how soon that will be? Thanks!!

 

[Den in Penn]

They will even now at six weeks be fine sleeping from sunset to sunrise with out food. With growing chicks I like to have food available as long as they are up. Since you are letting them out at the crack of dawn I don't see a problem. I would consider how to limit the feed getting thrown out of the feeder to help cut the wastage down. There may be no litter in the run, but the finer pieces can still be lost in the dirt.