Light in the nest

[Chickygrammy6]

I have put a light in my chickens nesting room. It comes on in the morning. Their food and water is in the run and the automatic door doesn't open till the sun comes up. should I put food and water in the nesting area too?

 

[azygous]

Food and water are best placed wherever your chickens mostly hang out during the day. Food and water are not necessary where chickens sleep at night or lay their eggs. In fact, hens prefer a dark, private nest in which to relax and lay an egg, and they normally do not feel the need to eat and drink while on a nest.

If your chickens do not have a run and are cooped up inside a building of some sort without windows to let in light, then yes, you would need to provide light during the day so they can see to find their food and their way around. But some natural sunlight exposure is necessary to absorb vitamin D so they can absorb calcium needed for egg laying.

If this doesn't answer your concerns, then you need to supply more information to get us on the right track.

 

[Mrs. K]

No I would not add food and water to the nesting area. Chickens really do not need to eat 24/7. Food often times attracts rats and mice.

I feed mine once a day, out in the run. Fresh air and sunshine are more important to overall health, and I have wind blocks set up outside, and feed outside to encourage them staying out of the coop. Mine only go in to lay, a very limited time of the day.

Mrs K

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have neither food nor water in the coop at night. My pop door opens at 7:45 AM, so they can go out and get water early. I bring food out around 9 AM, and that works out just fine.

 

[aart]

I have put a light in my chickens nesting room. It comes on in the morning. Their food and water is in the run and the automatic door doesn't open till the sun comes up. should I put food and water in the nesting area too?

If you are using supplemental lighting(to increase winter laying?),
they should have feed and water available every hour that light is on.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

When I provided supplemental light for winter laying feed and water were not in the coop.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have put a light in my chickens nesting room. It comes on in the morning.

I assume what you call the "nesting room" is what most of us would call the "coop". What we call the coop is where they spend the night, probably safe from predators in your case.

Their food and water is in the run and the automatic door doesn't open till the sun comes up. should I put food and water in the nesting area too?

How long before the sun comes up does that light come on? I'm thinking more on behaviors than physical need. If you did not have that light they'd not be eating or drinking until the sun came up and no one on here would think anything of it. They don't physically need to eat and drink that early.

When they wake up they are going to be hungry and thirsty regardless of how long it's been. Their crop is empty and they want to refill it. That's a want, not a need. They can still get enough nutrition throughout the day to fulfill their needs. That automatic door is going to open when the sun comes up, it's not like you are leaving them locked in there because you are sleeping in. I don't know if them wanting food and water would lead to bullying or other bad behaviors. I don't know if having food and/or water in the coop would prevent that bullying behavior if it happens. I doubt it but I don't know. As long as you are not having behavioral problems I don't see a need to have food and/or water in there.

Some people feed and/or water in the coop only, some in the run only. Some do all kinds of combinations of those, all for our own reasons. Just because someone else does this one way doesn't mean you have to, no matter how you do it there are plenty of other people that do it the same way. You just need to find which way works best for you.