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This topic brings a smile to my face. I can not help but giggle to myself when I think of a sleep walking hen hopping down from the roosting bar, getting a midnight snack with a quick drink and then heading back to bed. Makes me laugh.
Your backyard chickens are diurnal, which means they are awake and active during the day but sleep at night. They do not need food and water in their coop at night. It is okay to have a feeder and waterer in the coop at night, but it is not a necessity.
Do you have a coop set up for your backyard chickens? How did you set it up?
It Is A Chicken Coop Not A House
I have heard it called a chicken house a lot and that is fine. I am not trying to say not to call it a chicken house. My point is that unlike us humans, your backyard chickens do not need a luxurious comfortable place to lounge around. They might look great for Instagram or Pinterest photos but they are just not necessary. Your backyard chickens will be content with foraging and scratching around in the space that is available to them. They will not feel left out because the neighboring flock has wainscoting and a chandelier.
If your chicken coop is big enough, you will have certain chickens who will hang out in there more than others. They each have their own personalities I guess. I know I have certain days when I would be very content to just sit, read and eat. Maybe mix a little social media in there as well.
So we have established that the chicken coop does not have to be fancy. In my opinion, the chicken coop has one main purpose. This purpose is to provide a safe shelter for your happy flock to roost. Depending on the landscape around your home, it could the only safe place for them to roost. We live in a new house in a new subdivision so none of the trees are very big yet. In the wild, they will find a nice branch high enough to be safe while they sleep. With a safe and secure chicken coop, they would be too exposed at my house.
So you chicken coop does not need to be very big. It can literally be just big enough to give them adequate floor space to get up and down from their roosting bars and have a door to keep any predators out.
Inside or Out
So the next issue is where do you put the feeder and the waterer? Does it go inside the coop? Or outside? Well, you are going to love my answer: It depends! I know, I know, that is not an answer. So let me explain. Your happy flock of backyard chickens do not need to have food and water in their chicken coop at night, but they do need them during the day to live. So they need to go somewhere.
Some people prefer to have their feeders and waterers inside the chicken coop. Others prefer to have them outside in their run. While others do both. It really comes down to space and preference. So what are the pro’s and con’s for each:
Inside
Pro’s:
- Having your feeder and waterer inside the chicken coop helps with keeping the feed dry.
- During days that are hot or even cold and snowy days, your backyard chickens can hang out inside the coop to escape the weather.
- It is locked up at night so rodents and other animals do not have access.
- If you accidentally sleep in, your hens and roosters can have some breakfast at their preferred time.
Con’s:
- You need a bigger chicken coop.
- You need a decent sized door or access point for you to be able to have access for refilling the feeder and waterer.
- Spilled food is more easily mixed in with dropping from their roosting bars.
- Spilled water gets bedding wet which means you have to replace it more often.
Okay, so for the other side:
Outside
Pro’s:
- It encourages your happy flock to leave the coop and enjoy the great outdoors.
- Can have a smaller chicken coop.
- Spilled feed is more likely to be eaten and not wasted.
- Easier access for you to refill feeders and waterers.
Con’s:
- Rodents and other critters have easier access if your chicken run is not secure.
- If you sleep in or have a door malfunction, your chickens will get restless being locked up in their chicken coop.
- Feed can get wet which makes it turn to mush and is wasted.
- It is not as visually appealing.
Our last house was an old ranch house built in the 60’s and the property had two old smaller outbuildings that were not really usable for us so we ended up converting them into chicken coops. We tried the one at first but it was not quite big enough and the chicken run we built was a bit small as well. Later, the other shed was turned into a chicken coop because itt was bigger and it was attached to the backyard. So there was plenty of room for a feeder and waterer plus a brooding box and nesting boxes. It worked well for us.
We we do not have our coop set up for our new house. So we will have to decide if we are going to build a Pinterest worthy coop or keep it simple. There is no right or wrong way to do it as long as your backyard flock is happy and healthy.
Exceptions To The Rule
There are a couple small exceptions to needing food and water in the chicken coop at night.
Baby Chicks: When raising baby chicks, they are more prone to getting up at night and needing food or water. They can be like human kids in someways. They have not established a regular sleep-through-the-night routine yet. But since you will not have them in general population in the chicken coop, it is a little bit easier. We would keep our chicks in our mudroom at first and then eventually move them into a brooder box inside the coop. That way they had their own food and water available to them, but the other hens could see them and get used to them. That way when we released them to join the others, they were not strangers.
Broody Hens: A broody hen can be a strange creature. She will be bound and determined to sit on that nest of eggs to keep them warm. So she will take short breaks for food and water at different intervals throughout the day and even the night. So if you have a broody hen hatching eggs for you, it would be smart to keep some available for her for the short time she is egg sitting for you.
Helpful Automation
There are several helpful ways to automate your backyard chicken routine.
The number one way is an automatic chicken coop door. This is an awesome way of making sure your backyard chickens can get out of their chicken coop and access food and water as soon as the sun starts to come up.
CLICK HERE to check out the Autodoor from Omlet. Use the code “HQ” to save 10% in the US/UK/IE/AUS stores.
Having what I call a semi automatic chicken feeder is another way of helping save time with your routine. It is a full automation but it does help. The feeder below is great for being outside because it is not as likely to get wet.
CLICK HERE to read our post “How To Make An EASY Chicken Feeder”
Then next, is your waterer. Not having to fill a waterer multiple times a day is a huge time savings. A five gallon bucket of water can provide enough water for four chickens for about ten days. Depending on heat and evaporation.
CLICK HERE to read our post “DIY Chicken Waterer Step By Step Plans”
Finally, for those of us who have the pleasure of freezing temperatures, a heated waterer. Your backyard chickens do not need water overnight, but when they wake up and start moving around, they will want something to drink. We are lucky here that our daytime temperatures are not usually cold enough to keep our hen’s water frozen. It is usually enough to break the ice in the morning and call it good.
But with a heated waterer, you don’t need to worry about any of that. Just plug it in and your ladies are good to go.
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