When do chickens need to have access to food 24/7?

[Ann With A Plan]

Wet mash is easier for them to eat. sometimes would hand feed putting little bits in her beak for her. We lost our little scissor beak, Mary. We named her after mary Sanderson from hocus pocus. She was the sweetest girl. Loved being mammas girl.

Aww. Chubby cheeks (granddaughter named her when she was a fluff ball) reminds me of a youngest sibling. When they roost she buries herself between the others. She jumps on top the feeder and walks around it as she eats. The others don't seem to mind. Just in case she doesn't survive we got the other two new ones. I'll try the mash too. Thanks.

 

[Homesteadermomma6382]

Aww. Chubby cheeks (granddaughter named her when she was a fluff ball) reminds me of a youngest sibling. When they roost she buries herself between the others. She jumps on top the feeder and walks around it as she eats. The others don't seem to mind. Just in case she doesn't survive we got the other two new ones. I'll try the mash too. Thanks.

We actually lost her because she loved to bury herself under her sisters. She was so tiny and they were just too big. She suffocated under them. I was devastated. She was an Easter egger so she also had the fluffy cheeks. My profile pic is one of her sisters.

 

[cmom]

As Bear978 said, Food and water are in the coop 24/7. I have a 100 foot Premier One fencing system that I set up maybe 3/4 of the way and then 100% a couple of days ago. I had 12 chicks, one has severe crooked jaw, and got 2 more chickens a couple of days ago that are 2 weeks older..

I had a cross beak, Gladys. She lived until she was 3 years old and a fox sneaked in and got her one day. She loved to be held and was the most loving bird I ever had. I fed her crumbles. She had a bowl she would eat out of that I kept full. She couldn't eat pellets which I feed the other birds. I have 40# feeders in my coops. I usually fill them once a week but I have a few hundred birds.

 

[Sonya9]

Yesterday, I set the 100' of fencing out from the back of the door about 12 feet and then directed the length towards the house so they have one oblong yard with the first 3rd under shade and the last 3rd under shade of a big oak tree.
They like that much better and are able to find worms once in awhile. The grandkids and I also feed them crickets as well. They're up on the roost by 8:30pm, but I don't know if they come down for food during the night. I might set a camera in there sometime, just for grins to see what they do, if anything. There's no light in there, but it's not completely dark, either.

Chickens are night-blind (which is why they are so vulnerable to predators at night, they can't see them and will often sit still as they are slaughtered). They won't eat or drink or get off the roost as they can't see well enough.

Course they may be up before you let them out at which point they will eat/drink. also if you live in the country outdoor feed will eventually attract rats, and rats bring snakes which creates new permanent coop inhabitants.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

We actually lost her because she loved to bury herself under her sisters. She was so tiny and they were just too big. She suffocated under them. I was devastated. She was an Easter egger so she also had the fluffy cheeks. My profile pic is one of her sisters.

Yes you mentioned that you lost her, so sad. I'd better watch that it doesn't happen to chubby. She's an Easter egger too. She didn't have a problem picking on the newer (nice) chickens (4x her size) the other day.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Chickens are night-blind (which is why they are so vulnerable to predators at night, they can't see them and will often sit still as they are slaughtered). They won't eat or drink or get off the roost as they can't see well enough.

Course they may be up before you let them out at which point they will eat/drink. also if you live in the country outdoor feed will eventually attract rats, and rats bring snakes which creates new permanent coop inhabitants.

Good to know! Thanks. I can see how they establish their pecking order. I'll sit in the pen with them each day.
Yes, I'm out in the country amd we do get snakes. Big ones. Many of us have a flood light in back yards. Since my coop is on the side of my home, the light only goes as far as the coop door. Just enough so they're not in complete darkness.

 

[Sonya9]

We actually lost her because she loved to bury herself under her sisters. She was so tiny and they were just too big. She suffocated under them. I was devastated. She was an Easter egger so she also had the fluffy cheeks. My profile pic is one of her sisters.

Hmmm...I would suspect there was another issue that caused her demise. While it is possible for chicks to suffocate if they "pile" on each other in large numbers, it is hard to imagine it happening when they are normally roosting.

I have had tiny OEG bantams sleep under large layers, in one case a bantam raised 3 full sized layer chicks and when the chicks no longer fit underneath her she started sleeping under them and never stopped. The bedtime head count meant shining a flashlight underneath her grown chicks to look for a tiny pair of bantam legs.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

I had a cross beak, Gladys. She lived until she was 3 years old and a fox sneaked in and got her one day. She loved to be held and was the most loving bird I ever had. I fed her crumbles. She had a bowl she would eat out of that I kept full. She couldn't eat pellets which I feed the other birds. I have 40# feeders in my coops. I usually fill them once a week but I have a few hundred birds.
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Oh no! How did the fox get in? I have the whole coop covered with hardware cloth over the top of the chicken wire that was already there. Now I'm going to put flat pieces along the outside bottoms outward.

 

[cmom]

I was out painting on the coops and she was dust bathing in a garden when the fox took her. I knew it was a risk to let her out but since I was also out there I didn't think anything would come around. Live and learn.

 

[cmom]

I had been seeing a fox at night on the game cameras but I also see many other predators too. After it got Gladys I was seeing it more and more during the day. I did eventually eliminate it. It was mangy and stinky.