[PaulineM]

Hi Everyone
Now that winter seems to be upon us, I was just wondering how to keep my chooks pellets dry during the day. 
I moved my coop into a stable over a week ago for the winter, so now my girls have a dander to get to the garden where they free range all day. Yesterday the pellets got wet as the lid blew off and although the chooks shelter under a tree, and this is where I put the food, in the winds the rain still blew in.
I have tinkered with the feeder to stop the lid blowing off now but how does everyone else keep their feeders dry and are the pellets ruined if they get wet?
If I kept the feeder in the stable would they go back in if they were hungry enough? They do wander back in at bedtime so they know where bed is 
Any ideas welcome 

[ehs284]

Hi and welcome.
Our birds free range, but spend a lot of time in the garden because of the shelter from the hedge - it's very windy here.
Our coop is about 100 metres from where the birds generally congregate. The pellets are left at the side of the coop under shelter. They eat breakfast, patrol, sleep then go back for lunch at midday. Repeat for the afternoon. They seem quite happy doing this. Water is left where they meet, but not pellets.
Wet pellets are not a problem and they'll eat them if just rain wetted. Damp pellets in storage can go mouldy and rats/mice can be a problem, so a good storage within the stable is maybe more of a problem. Lots of people use metal dustbins. If you've a stable then probably you've sorted this for horses anyway, but just thought I'd mention it.

[GrannieAnnie]

I'd put the feeder in the stable, I know some people disagree, but most of our food is kept in the coops anyway.

Or you could build a little shelter for it under the trees?  One of my runs has an old kitchen wall cupboard in a corner where I put the food, so unless the rain is in a particular direction, it doesn't get wet.

A bit of wet doesn't matter, only the feed does go mouldy quicker, so you'd have to keep throwing it away and once it dries it also compacts, so best to keep it dry if you can

[PaulineM]

Thanks for the replies so far,
I guess I should just leave the pellets in the stable, I was worried they would only eat grass and then not lay, (although 3 out of my 6 still aren't laying anyway ) but I should keep water where they huddle?
Ok out I go to rectify things!   

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes Pauline, keep the water outside, it doesn't matter if it gets wet!!   

[Fisherman]

You might want to try a treadle feeder although they are a bit pricey. They seem to keep the feed dry and keep vermin away from the pellets. You can fill the feeder with quite a few days worth of pellets but this obvioulsy depends on what size feeder you get and how many birds you have.

[mummychick]

My husband built a shelter to put the food under to keep it nice and dry but the chickens keep moving the feeder out into the rain!!!!  He's not very happy but they seem to be