Someone Please Help Me - Stardew Valley

Hello! I have a question about Stardew that I can’t find an answer for that satisfies my brain. Mainly because I am a self-proclaimed idiot.

I have no idea how to care for animals. What should their daily schedule be? How do I feed them? How do I make them happy?

For reference I bought some chickens, and placed them in a coop. Things were fine initially, but after the first couple days they were always grumpy and would not grow. They would not eat. I could not feed them myself. I was devastated and slightly worried that this was animal abuse. Even when I figured out they needed to be outside on sunny days, they were still. Grumpy. And tiny.

Someone please tell me what I should be doing, and if possible, how they themselves make their animals happy.

Also, I might post more questions here later.

I did build a silo, and I think I figured out the petting. But the main problem I think is the fact that they won’t eat. Do they eat grass outside or something? And hay is optional?

Petting them is how I figured out they were always unhappy.

I did build a silo, and I think I figured out the petting. But the main problem I think is the fact that they won’t eat. Do they eat grass outside or something? And hay is optional?

did you put the hay in their food tray in the coop?

Is that the thing that automatically gets filled by having a silo or a completely different thing? Because if it’s a different thing, then I did not.

Alright, I’ll try that out. Thanks. :}

Update: It worked! Thanks for helping my scribble of a brain.

Me too 😭 I felt so bad.