Watering my hens?

[naomidolton]

Should I use a large waterer and keep in in the coop. Or should I use two smaller waterers and have one outside in the run and one in the coop. They are let out in the run during the day and kept in the coop at night.

 

[Den in Penn]

That is a matter that has many answers as chicken keepers. It depends on several facts. How big is your coop, your flock, the climate, and what you prefer. The bigger the coop the less percentage of the coop the water takes the easier it is to have one in the coop. The bigger the flock the more you need two waters. How cold and what time of year may make having one outside difficult. If you are one to let your chickens out late, you may need one in the coop. With my larger flocks I keep both in and out. The brooder and bachelor pad generally have one. Although the boys can get rambunctious and knock even the heavier ones over.

 

[naomidolton]

That is a matter that has many answers as chicken keepers.  It depends on several facts.  How big is your coop, your flock, the climate, and what you prefer.  The bigger the coop the less  percentage of the coop the water takes the easier it is to have one in the coop.  The bigger the flock the more you need two waters.  How cold and what time of year may make having one outside difficult.  If you are one to let your chickens out late, you may need one in the coop.  With my larger flocks I keep both in and out. The brooder and bachelor pad generally have one.  Although the boys can get rambunctious and knock even the heavier ones over.

I have a 8 by 10 coop. I will have about 17 chickens in there. I live in Minnesota so I would bring the waterer in during the winter

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree with Den In Penn, we all do it differently. One part of this is the age of your chickens and whether or not you are integrating chickens, especially younger chickens. When they are going through adolescence and are setting the pecking order they can be bullies. When you are integrating younger chickens the older ones can really be bullies. They will often try to keep the weaker away from food and water as a form of intimidation. It’s really beneficial at those times to have separate food and water stations so everyone can eat and drink.

But once the pecking order is settled and they are all one big happy flock, it mainly comes down to your personal preferences, or if you have certain circumstances, what happens to work for you. If your waterer makes a wet mess you might not want that in the coop. If you leave them locked in the coop until late in the morning, you might want water in the coop for when they wake up. We are all unique in many ways, different things work for different ones of us.