Should I have water and feed in the coop? Pro's & Con's

[deeglenn]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

 

[deeglenn]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

My rooster is a mess making morning man. Tries to woo the hens when they wake up. So no water inside coop.

 

[Misty Lee]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

We keep in their run. Grandpa feeders. We have to put water in coop because the water heater is plugged in. Spring it goes in run.

 

[Elmbrooker]

I built a 12x8 coop and a 32x16 run (12x8 under coop) and I have a hanging feeder in the coop. It has made a huge difference in keeping the feed dry and clean. I have a hanging heater waterer inside that the birds have to peck at. Outside I have a galvanized double wall waterer on a heated base, which was frozen this morning. That stays under the coop. I have an automatic door and a light it the coop on a timer. The birds can wake up and start eating before they go outside. It works well for me. Egg production is great and the birds seem happy. It’s also easy to fill everything.

 

[edeveraux]

I keep the food and water in the run, not the coop. There really isn't enough room. I use a heated dog water bowl, I just run an extension cord from the house and it stays liquid all winter. The food is kept hung in a small shed we build from plywood. It's open, but it is sheltered from the weather.

We have a minor problem with mice. I place a few mouse traps on the outside of the run. But, the girls can eat outside and stay out of the weather, even gives them another place to hang out.

When it snows/rains, i scoop if the snow is deep, then I add some straw to floor to keep their feet out of the wet.

 

[Malamute1]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

I'm in Florida so I think weather would be a deciding factor. I have 6 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Ameraucanas. My coop is off the ground and in the evening I put their food bucket in the run under their ramp. My husband put a swivel plant hanger under the front edge of the coop. When I put the girls up for the night I hang their water and swivel it to hang under the coop. Stays much cleaner. We put locking slide bolts on the outside of the run door. Racoon hands have a hard time with the locking ones. I don't close the coop door at night. If it's windy and below 60 I will close door and window 1/2 way to cut down on draft. They free range during the day and I move food n water under a tree. My girls actually gang up on any squirrel trying for a quick meal. I did put food n water in the coop the first 2 mos or so when the first started staying outside full time. We hung them from the top of the coop. They hung between the 2 bottom perched but not under the top roost. This helped keep them less messy. I also closed the coop door every night to teach them to roost for the night in the coop. We are also building a new coop on the back part of the acre. Are you going to have cover on the section of run attached to the coop? If you are and the coop is off the ground I'd probably keep my food n water under the coop. That's the direction we're headed in for the new coop n run. Good luck on your new endever. I'll be interested to know what you decide to do.

 

[dirkandlorie]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

I'm a very lazy chicken keeper, or a very busy one that wants to do things easy. (Sounds better that way, doesn't it?) My coop and attached run are large and predator proof so door between never needs to be opened or closed except when temperatures drop below freezing. Food and water are suspended from ceiling in coop so chickens always have access to it. Water never freezes because it hangs right next to oil filled radiating heater also suspended from ceiling. (This changes out to a fan in the summer time.) Floor is sand so takes only minutes to clean with kitty litter scoop, with the added benefit of no mites or odor build ups. Everyone does it different, but I like to spend my time enjoying my chickens not working my toucas off. And if I want to sleep in, the girls have everything they need while I take my sweet time enjoying that morning coffee. Lol

 

[Cheery]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

my chicken do not go back inside during the day except to lay. So a covered area outside is ideal for their food. They also like to dust bath in the dry dirt under their cover outdoor area.

 

[goatgirl72]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks
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I have water in coop all winter of course cold here -30 and in spring fall and summer there is water avail outside for them and inside. Food inside only

 

[Clairemarie1982]

I am designing my new coop & run build for this spring. It will be a 6x6 coop with a 12x20 run attached. Should I have the feed and water in the coop or the run. What is the best? I tend to lean towards the coop being just for roosting with no water or feed. What are your thoughts? Thanks

I have a coop and run both almost identical in size to yours with 9 chickens. I keep the food and water outside in the covered run. The chickens only go in the coop to lay eggs and are in at dusk to roost and are back out at sunrise, so I personally don’t see a need to keep the food and water in the coop. My coop has a floor and I do not want water spilling and don’t really feel keeping the food / water in there is necessary and would just cause messes. In the run the floor is dirt (covered with pine shavings) so any spillage is fine. The run is also completely predator proof so this situation has worked great for us.