night time food and water

[bella luna]

When I lock my chickens up at night in coop:cd. Should I have food and water in coop or are they ok till morning? Thanks

 

[GoldDogsMom]

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.

 

[BrokenRoadFarm]

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.

 

[clairabean]

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.

 

[chdjn]

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.

 

[SteveBaz]

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

 

[OregonChickenGal]

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.

 

[nickie]

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.

 

[simplynewt]

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.

 

[Fred's Hens]

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.