night time food and water

I keep the food and water in the coop at all times. I know others say this will attract predators but IMO the chickens are what attract the predators! Might attract some little creatures but after 2 yrs of doing this still haven't seen signs of mice or even chipmunks in the coop.

 

If your coop is dark at night, they will not eat or drink anyway. They cannot see in the dark. I keep the feed in the coop in case they wake up a little earlier than I do - plus it keeps the mess down in the run when they "beak swipe" the food out of the feeder. I started out keeping water in the coop, but stopped as they kept spilling it and getting the pine shavings soaked. So feed inside, water outside.

 

Feed in, water out for us too.

Unless you get up when they do, then they will eat breaky early. But it will not harm them to wait a few hours and have a late breakfast, either.

If it is dark they will not wake up for a midnight snack. Chickens are dead to the world at night.

 

I had trouble with water in the coop getting the pine shavings wet too. I think they did it on purpose this summer to have a cool place to lay down in. I took a kiddie pool, filled it with sand and placed the waterer in that - dry pine shavings! The sand also seems to be able to dry out quite easily.

 

I keep a full chick feeder all time and that goes for the Vita Sol drops in the water fresh daily!

 

I never leave food or water in the coop at night. They go to roost at dusk, and because I'm an early riser, they're out at dawn. If you're a late riser on the other hand, you may want to leave food and water in the coop overnight. I think water is more important than food in that instance.

 

Having just added a light to the coop that comes on 1 or 2 hour before I get up I started keeping water in there for them, BUT I also built a very nice nestbucket area that has a table on top where I keep a treat block and a waterer. The bedding stays dry.

 

Food and water are kept outside in the run. I am up before the crack of dawn and the door gets opened for them so they have access to both from that point on. Since I have been doing this I havent had to deal with soggy shavings or feed scattered throughout the coop.

 

Water is always available. Feed at night, when the birds are sleeping? For us, that is merely feeding the rodents. No thanks. The mice need no help from me.