[audi]

Hi,  In my book it says to put there food inside. but water outside, surely eating dried food they should have water with it at the same time, what does everyone else do? Sorry to be a pest with all these questions but being new to hens I want to get it right and pamper my girls. javascript:replaceText('%20:blush:',%20document.forms.postmodify.message);

[Casey76]

Rather than inside, I think they probably mean under cover.

You should not put food or water in the coop.

[scabs]

Hi, I've made a small 'lean to' (about 2.5' tall and 2' wide x 2' deep) and place the feeder under that to keep the elements away. It has a sloped roof and a bit of felt on top to keep the elements off. Seems to work fine.

The water of course is on open ground.

I never leave either inside the coop.

 

[grumpydad]

they dont need food in the coop at night, they sleep and poop at night. just make sure you lift the food and put it safe from vermin, slugs etc.

[joyfull]

I have several feeders - some are under cover (old lorry wheel arches and an ifor williams land rover hard top) but others are outside with rain hats on, my coops are not suitable for having them inside. Grannie Annie though has huge poultry houses so she has room for her chickens to roost in there and plenty of space for them to run around in if it is raining and they want to get dry, because her sheds are big she has her feeders and drinkers inside. Ideally their feeders should be outside but protected from the elements as not all of us keep a couple hundred chickens like Annie 

[GrannieAnnie]

My drinkers are outside Joy!  Unless they are in the brooder sheds!  

And you could say that half of the sheds are actually covered verandah's, and that's where the feeders are! 

[penninehillbilly]

I have feeders inside, so spillages and grain 'bounced' out when pecking, are not left on the ground outside for vermin. Drinkers are outside, or I can guarentee there would be a wet floor. don't forget a container for grit. If I HAVE fed anything outside I make sure I have cleared the outside feeders away well before their bedtime, so they will 'clean up' outside.

[hillfooter]

If you have a small coop for a dozen or so chx then it's intended as a substitute for a secure roost, providing shelter and protection from preditors.  If your nestboxes are there they will also visit it for laying.  Chx browse feed foraging on the land away from their roosts so if you want to imitate a natural environment you should locate their feed and water outside in their runs.  Of course the feed needs to be protected from rain and either you can do as Scabs does which I also do in some runs or have a covered area in the run preferably around the entrance to their house so the entrance is kept dry and inhibits mud from being trailed in.  

If the feed is suspended at hen back height they can reach it without being able to foul it.  If it's hung it will discourage rodents too.  Being close to the pophole in the run they can top up before roosting at dusk and it encourages them in.  Water doesn't need protection and must be securely stood on the ground not suspended so preventing it being knocked and spilt.

Discouraging the chx to visit the house to feed keeps the house cleaner and reduces droppings.

There's no need to co-locate feed and water though it might be convenient.  Birds naturally eat dry food they don't need to dunk it.  When a chx eats the feed it is temporarily stored in a sack called a crop before it is ground up in the gizzard and enters the digestion system.  Grit is needed in the gizzard to help grind the food and effectively it acts as their teeth.  They get this mostly from the ground but if you confine the birds on woodchip for example you should provide grit as a supplement.  Calcium in the form of crushed oyster shell is a soluable grit which supplements a hens calcium requirement for good egg shell quality.

[joyfull]

not forgetting the washed, baked and crushed egg shells for calcium should you prefer