Wet chick feed

[Slotred]

It's raining almost every day here on the Gulf Coast, and my feeder is outside. The feed is getting soaked every day, so I'm looking for some ideas on covering the feeder to prevent the problem. Any ideas?
Also, my girls (10 weeks old) stand out in the rain and refuse to go in the coop, even when it's storming. Is that normal?
Thanks.

 

[Judy]

My chickens, and many others, don't mind the rain a bit. I'm glad to see them out in it, to keep them a little cooler.

Wet feed is another thing, though. It can mold quickly and make them very sick, or worse. It's fine to feed them wet or moistened feed when it's first wet, but you need to toss any that's left in 30 minutes or an hour. It's hard to make any suggestions without knowing more about your setup -- but you will need to find a way to protect the feed from rain, both from above and blown in, if you're going to keep safe feed available all day.

 

[Slotred]

Thanks very much. I have seen moldy food, and I'ts bad. I plan to build a mini-gazebo for the feeder, and I'm hoping to get some ideas before I start. For now, I'll be dumping the wet food at least once a day and putting fresh chick starter in the feeder. I also have a Moultree automatic feeder that spreads a small amount of feed twice a day, and that's not perfect either. There is a lot of waste on the ground, and of course that gets wet, and I have to deal with that. My run is six feet by eighteen feet, and it is filled with white sand. The uneaten food gets caked on the sand, and I have to rake it out every other day. I have only four hens, and they are 10 weeks old, so I may be feeding too much.