water/feeder in coop or run???

[mimischicksnat]

It doesn't make much difference for the food, but with the water, I'd say keep it inside, if you have a concrete flooring, but otherwise, leave it outside as much as possible to avoid a rotting floor. Our old coop was raised, and had a wooden floor, and within five years, the floor rotted, and fell through, but now, in our new coop, we have a cement floor, and keep the food and water inside all day.

I am seriously thinking about putting vinyl floor in mine. Does anyone have any experience with how much longer it will make the floor last?

 

[Ridgerunner]

A rain barrel system is often set up so the first water of a storm is diverted away from the barrels, That way the roof and gutters get cleaned off before the water goes into the barrels. The only ones of these I've seen have been manual, growing up we did this when we depended on a cistern for our drinking and cooking water, but I imaging they have some automatic systems out there. Your extension agent may be able to help with that.

I'm also not convinced that some wild bird feces is all that horrible for them, though you don't want the water to get stagnant with things growing in it. Keeping the water fresh and not stagnant would be my concern. Any chicken with access to the outside will eat wild bird feces. The wild birds may eat food and poop in the feeders, depending on the type of feeder. Wilde birds will poop in the run and chickens will eat that. That's just what chickens do. They really love scratching through and eating choice morsels out of animal poop of al kinds. Some very famous people in the pastured chicken movement rotate the chickens behind their cows so the chickens can spread the cow poop and get a lot of good nutrition from it. The cow poop is a nice nutritional supplement they count on to feed the chickens.

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/2011/07/25/pastured-eggs/

 

[mimischicksnat]

They really love scratching through and eating choice morsels out of animal poop of al kinds. Some very famous people in the pastured chicken movement rotate the chickens behind their cows so the chickens can spread the cow poop and get a lot of good nutrition from it. The cow poop is a nice nutritional supplement they count on to feed the chickens.

We have SO many wild turkeys that follow our cows. We encourage hunters during turkey season to come visit us!