Where do I put the food?

[ChickenGirl555]

A few people have told me to put the food outside at night so it doesn't go stale/bad. I wanted to know if this was true, and/or where I should put it, and when? It's not a big problem, I only have 6 two-month-old chicks.

 

[rjohns39]

A few people have told me to put the food outside at night so it doesn't go stale/bad. I wanted to know if this was true, and/or where I should put it, and when? It's not a big problem, I only have 6 two-month-old chicks.

Where do you normally feed them?

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Where do you normally feed them?

Currently I am just bringing the food outside in the day and locking it in the coop with the chickens at night

 

[rjohns39]

Currently I am just bringing the food outside in the day and locking it in the coop with the chickens at night

That approach is fine. Unless you're giving them a ton, they'll eat it long before it goes bad. Only time you need to worry is if it get's wet. Wet food will mold, but not right away. The fermenting folk out here can give you a better handle on time frame. I generally will dump anything that got wet the next day if they haven't finished it. Mine get fed twice a day and they leave very little in the troughs.

 

[junebuggena]

Food left out, whether in the coop or the run, overnight tends to attract unwanted pests.

 

[staceyj]

I lock mine up in a small metal trash can with a very tight fitting lid at night when I lock up the coop.
It prevents rodents from eating and (knock on wood)
Keeps them out of the coop as well.

 

[junebuggena]

Mine has to come inside the house at night. The bears are a real nuisance this fall.

 

[PirateGirl]

I try not to feed more than my chickens will eat in one day. If there is any leftover it comes into my house and will go back out in the morning. If I don't bring it in the house there are a plethora of rodents that will eat it at night. I don't want to be paying to fatten the neighborhood pests, nor do I want them coming around. So day time it's in the run, night time I take it away. They don't eat overnight while they are sleeping anyway. When they were younger and still growing sometimes it would get locked in the coop with them so they had access to it whenever they wanted. If it's raining or snowing the food goes in the covered part of the run to stay dry.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

If you don't clean up the spilled food at the end of each day, mice and rats will come. Those critters know where the food is and will try to get to it, no matter what (unless the pen it locked down like Fort Knox). But, if you leave food for them on a daily basis, you will have an infestation...maybe even biblical!

I have auto feeders in the chicken run, they get closed up and any spilled feed cleaned up, each evening. The feed is stored in the garage (where my cats and Rat Terrier sleep), in a metal trash can with tight fitting lid.

Yes, and as rjohns39 says, moldy feed is deadly! The type of storage container is dependent on the humidity where you live. It is dry and arid here 90% of the time. So, I have had no problems with humidity building in the storage container. However, I must thoroughly clean out the autofeeders every Spring and Fall, due to rain and use of the misters during hot weather. Feed can cake deep inside the feeders, if mold develops the chickens could get poisoned if they eat it.

Anyways, that's what I do.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Thank you for all the advice, what most of you are saying is lock it up in the coop or take it away at night. Thank you and I will begin doing this!