The new chicks are going in a room in the back of my garage for 6 weeks. The entire house and run will be covered in the wire mesh, it just hasnt been added yet until it is in situ. I have bought red feeders and drinkers, (the plastic ones) though i would try my luck at car boots for galvanised at a later date. Do the plastic ones need to be hung then? i thought they could do both, luckily i have approx 5 weeks to get things perfect for them.
Plastic feeders and drinkers are perfectly adequate and my personal preference would be for plastic over galvanised. They are much easier to keep clean and the better quality ones are very durable though obviously not as durable as galvanised. Unfortunately the cheap red ones are poor and have no UV protection in the plastic so quickly go brittle if exposed to sunlight. The green "Crown" types are good. see
http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/5_KG_Green_and_White_Plastic_Chicken_Feeder.htmlThere's a matching drinker. When sizing feeders work on 120grams of feed a day per bird (unless bantams) and 200ml of water. Allow for 4 days supply to see you through a long weekend.
This is the poor type which go brittle
http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/6_litre_Red_and_white_chicken_feeder.htmlThe more expensive heavy duty red ones are good though. Joyful uses these I believe.
You need to hang the feeders at back height to prevent the hens fouling their feed and also deter rodents. The red types don't have handles also so can't be hung which is useless.
The drinker needs to be stood on bricks at back height ideally. If you hang them they spill with the chx constantly knocking against them so need to be stood on the ground.
The feeders need to be provided with rain cover against driving rain. Obviously your house will provide a lot of shelter as long as the prevailing wind isn't into the open side.
HF
HF