Am I supposed to close the coop door every night?

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stephanyk

stephanyk

In the Brooder
Feb 6, 2017
10
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Hi all, so my birds learned by night 4 how to go in the coop at night and i swear my husband and i were high fiving each other and jumping around like little kids! Anyhow, now that the weather is warming up, I'm wondering if I'm still supposed to go out there every night and close them in. They seem to want to hang out inside but just keep their heads popped out.
 
Unless your coop door opens up into a penitentiary style run I wouldn't. They're pretty much defenseless and night time leaves them vulnerable to many nocturnal predators.
 
Personally I close my coop every night. I am in town and have few night predators. I just don't ever want to go out to find that I had a weak spot and lost birds.

Lock em or loose em.
 
Im sorry, i wasnt very clear. The coop is enclosed and also opens up into a penetetionary type run, built by my husband. The birds have no way to get out and are completely protected. But it does still scare me thinking "what if".
 
Always better to be safe than sorry IMO. Even if your run is very well put together, by closing up the coop you're adding an extra layer of protection when many predators are most active.
 
Do you have a skirt buried around your whole run? Is the run made of hardware cloth, or chicken wire? Is there any where you could push a quarter through any part of your run? A weasel can squeeze through an opening the size of a quarter and can kill a whole flock in a single night. They are found in all 48 states. Chicken wire will keep chickens in, but it will not keep predators out. Many common preds can tear through chicken wire very easily.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys....think i wont risk it and just keep closing it. Appreciate the advise:)
 

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