Should you put water where they sleep?

[Andresm]

Hello everyone, a newbie question, should you put water in the place where you sleep?
My chicken coop is completely closed at night and now there are many hours of darkness, and I don't know if it is necessary to put a trough in case they need to drink at night.
Thanks for your attention

 

[21hens-incharge]

Chickens are not night drinkers.
In fact they are pretty much catatonic in the dark. I have not kept water in the coop at night ever. (Decades really)

I even dump the water I put in during our deep freezes here to help keep night time moisture down.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hello everyone, a newbie question, should you put water in the place where you sleep?
My chicken coop is completely closed at night and now there are many hours of darkness, and I don't know if it is necessary to put a trough in case they need to drink at night.
Thanks for your attention

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

Chickens cannot see well in the dark and as such will stay hunkered down.. not eating or drinking during that time.

Depending on your location and set up.. adding water inside the coop is not truly desirable.. unless you are dealing with other weather conditions that may require sheltered feed/water type stuff.

I do add water in my coop when I need to stay locked up for predators or other reasons during day time also.

But no, your chickens do not need food OR water during dark hours. If it was left light, that would likely be different.. but you did describe it as dark.

 

[Andresm]

Very good clarification.
I will put my first hens tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow and I will leave them one day inside their "little house" so that they can recognize it and get used to it. That whole day I will have them with food and water, but when they come in just to sleep, I will not give them food or water.
Thank you very much.

 

[Andresm]

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

Great, you are extraordinary people.

 

[aart]

My chicken coop is completely closed at night

Except for ventilation, right?

 

[Andresm]

Except for ventilation, right?

Yes, of course, it has three ventilation holes in the upper part of the cabin, but thank you very much for commenting.

 

[CatsandCrops]

I keep a waterer in the coop and outside of the coop in the fully enclosed run. I like having a backup in case someone decides to sit on top of the waterer and fling it (looking at you Dee.) or if they hang out inside of the coop on rainy/gross days. We're usually up before they are to let them out of the coop in the mornings, but on the rare occasions we sleep in (or have someone chicken sitting), I like the peace of mind of them having both food and water. It's all personal preference really

 

[Andresm]

It's a very good idea what you do.
I have put a trough in the coop, because I assumed that these first days they were not going to leave it to run through the fenced corral, with the idea of removing it and leaving only the one outside, but perhaps I will definitely leave it, at least in winter Well, as you say, if it gets an ugly day of rain or snow, and they don't want to go out, they can drink from their coop.