Indoor vs outdoor feeder

[Shamiira]

We have a 10# feeder under shelter outside but I’m unable to keep the dog from eating it with them (she thinks she’s a chicken I throw out treats for them and scoures the yard with them too!) the chicken feed gives her terrible diarrhea our chickens rarely go in the coop unless it’s bedtime. They would have to go up and down the ramp (4 foot long, 3 feet off the ground) each time they wanted some food but I do have room to mount it on the wall in there since they only really use the roosting bars. Is there any problem with putting their feed in the coop? There’s 7 of them and this would make 3 feeding ports rather than the 4 they have currently. Seems like a dumb question but seems like a lot of work for them. And is 3 ports enough for the 7 of them? Thanks in advance! Y’all are amazing!

 

[rosemarythyme]

They should go into the coop to eat as long as they know the feeder is in there.

How big is the dog? You could also make a feeding area with openings only big enough for the chickens to get in, unless the dog is chicken sized....

 

[Shamiira]

They should go into the coop to eat as long as they know the feeder is in there.

How big is the dog? You could also make a feeding area with openings only big enough for the chickens to get in, unless the dog is chicken sized....

I was hoping that might be ok! We have a pretty small coop. They really just sleep there even though there’s space for other activities.

The dog is a border collie; about 11 months old. She only weighs about 35# but I don’t think we have a spot we could do that in. I did think about that.

I think we’re going to wait til they are a little bigger and try to put their food a little higher (I’ll get a picture tomorrow to share of their feeding station. It’s hard to describe what we’ve created so far.)

Thank you!!

 

[aart]

Sounds like you are free ranging your birds...and the dog?
Your dog may figure out how to get into the coop.

 

[Shamiira]

Sounds like you are free ranging your birds...and the dog?
Your dog may figure out how to get into the coop.

We are free ranging the chickens, both dogs and the cat! only the cat could get in the coop if he wanted but he doesn’t. There’s a human door that I keep latched except when I go in and the automatic coop door the chickens go in and out of. Their coop is a portion of the shed and is off the ground so there’s no walking into it except for the chickens.

 

[Shamiira]

Here’s our feeder set up. It helps prevent waste and Kees the dogs from eating what the ladies throw out.

The border collie / aussie thinks she’s a chicken and loves to hang out with the ladies.

She even likes to scavenge the yard for their treat (BSFL).

She’s still learning that she doesn’t need to herd them up but otherwise does really well! The other dog doesn’t care at all. She just lays out in the sun and grass.