Taking feed inside at night?

[Hodawg]

Once our chicks are old enough to move outside to the coop, we're thinking about just keeping the feed and water out in the run. Would it be wise to move the feeder back inside our house after the hens are locked up in the coop at night? Wouldn't this eliminate the rat-in-the-feeder problem, and possibly reduce some of the lure to other nighttime predators? We have a lot of coons and possums around here, and I've seen both go for my wife's bird feeders on the poarch at night.

Beers y'all,
Ken

 

[clairabean]

Can you feed them in the coop? Leaving food out at night is an open invitation to all sorts of nasty creatures.

 

[Fred's Hens]

If the feeders are in the run, won't the rats, mice, coons and critters just go for the feed at night, out there?

 

[petejd]

We leave our feeder inside the coop. They go inside to eat whenever they feel the need. I think it might help in keeping the pests down.

 

[chicmom]

Hey! Beers to you as well!

I wouldn't keep the food out in the run at all. The reason is, the chickens scratch at it and it falls on the ground, and then moisture gets on it. It will eventually stink to high heaven, and then you will have to scrape that out....The smell is just hideous!

So I keep my feed inside the coop, and the water outside in the run. I just lock up the coop at night, and the feed is in there with the chickens.....

Too much trouble for me to bring the food inside......I do store my food in those steel trash cans with lids though....

 

[petejd]

Quote:
x2..I have water inside and outside. But I'm lazy..

 

[dela1991]

I remove the feeder from the run when I put the chickens up for the night. I keep it in my shed inside of a trash can with a tight fitting lid. The chickens have water available, inside and outside of the coop at all times. I have enough of a mouse problem as it is. I once saw a mouse in my run that was so fat it could hardly walk. At first I didn't even think it was a mouse it was so fat. But it was so sluggish that I got a good look.

 

[Hodawg]

Quote:
That's exactly what I'm talking about doing, dela1991. We already have a mouse and rat problem on our block due to an abandoned/foreclosed home nearby with 4 foot tall grass in the back yard. We cut the front yard over there so it won't look so bad from the street, but the backyard is locked so we just have to live with the vermin that have taken up home in their backyard.

Our coop and run are not very far from our back door, so I figured that bringing the run feeder in at night when I lock them in for the evening would be a good idea. The coop is completely rat/mouse proof, so I'll probably leave a small feeder and waterer inside the coop at night just in case they get the late night munchies.

Beers y'all,
Ken

 

[florida lee]

I keep my feeder in the coops, that way they have access to it at all times. I also keep a waterer in the coop and one in the run. The coop is vermin proof so I have not had a mouse , rat, or squirrel problem. But who knows what walks thru the run at night.