Ever Been Locked In?

Time to share a story or two about getting locked in the coop and/or run...I'm not the only one this has happened to, right?

My first experience with being locked in happened when we were building the coop. Everything was complete except for some last minute details before moving the chicks in. I was on the floor in a corner painting and DH was doing some work getting the door lock in place. Once he was done fiddling, he latched the coop door and left to go on to other chores, not realizing I was still in a corner painting (at least, that's what he SAYS, lol). After about 30 minutes he finally came back to pick up a tool he had left behind only to find me mad as a wet hen! That was when we realized we had to come up with a way of unlocking the coop door from the INSIDE. Whew, took care of that real quick.

Did we learn from that experience when we built a large, covered run? Nope. Sure enough, DH "accidently" locked me in the run and there I was stuck, just me and the chickens, for about 15 minutes. This time he didn't come back before I managed to use a stick to move the run door latch. Thank goodness my chickens just happened to have a long sturdy stick on hand to help me out!

The lesson we learned from building our coop and run was, don't forget to make it possible for the chicken folks in your life to get out from the inside. We were so caught up in protecting our girls from predators getting IN the coop and run, we didn't think about the need for a human to get OUT of the coop or run.

Because it was kind of embarrassing and DH was so sorry, I wasn't going to write about this on BYC until I read of a similar situation happening to another member. Just wanted to point out what can happen so other's will be spared in the future! Save yourselves!

P.S. We've been talking about building a tractor for the girls, but I'm just not sure how I'll get out once DH locks me in that!

You're sure that was by accident?

My one pigeon loft is two compartments. One is for breeding and the other is a young bird flying loft. I once entered the flying side and closed the gate behind me inadvertently causing the hook and eye latch to engage. Yeah it was on the breeding side, and I was on the flying side. The loft entry door was on the breeding side. After a considerable period of time trying to reach the latch through the wire and around a 2 by 4 with my stubby little fingers I attacked the door with a Kung Fu kick and pulled the hook and eye out. I then reinstalled it on the flying side.

Hey sourland! A Kung Fu kick?!?! Wish I would have thought of that. Although, with my amazing lack of gracefulness, I probably would have missed the door and stuck my foot through the wire, lol.

Remember that old David Carradine tv show where he was a martial artist back in the cowboy days? "Watch his feet, he'll kill you with his feet!"

The kids locked me in mine, just after we moved some ladies into it, I had been very forthcoming to them that they had to lock the door on it when they wree leaving it, unfortunately I was still in there when I heard the bolt go through the lock and they ran off.... after sining out for a bit they came back to let me out, since then I cut a hole small enough I can get my hand out and unlock it myself. "just in case"

Oh, yes, it's happened to me, too. And, no, it's NOT FUN!! My husband accidentally locked me in while we were in the midst of a heat wave. Luckily it was early in the day so the coop hadn't gotten too hot but I was in a panicked state! I was in for about an hour before he came to look for me.

We now have a small door that opens from the inside for escape. The door was already there - it's used to shovel out litter - but had been locked from the outside. The lock was moved to the inside.

Our run is such that you can reach through and unlock it should you be inside. Thankfully!

Mtn Laurel, it was reading your coop build story that inspired me to write about getting locked up. That's one of those things no one seems to warn you about but as we know, it can happen.

It was aggravating and funny at the same time. Now I have a little fun with it teasing DH.

NorthFLChick said:

Mtn Laurel, it was reading your coop build story that inspired me to write about getting locked up. That's one of those things no one seems to warn you about but as we know, it can happen.

It was aggravating and funny at the same time. Now I have a little fun with it teasing DH.

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LOL! Ever notice how it's the husband always "accidentally" locking the wife in??

Mtn Laurel said:

LOL! Ever notice how it's the husband always "accidentally" locking the wife in??

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Hmmm, sure makes you wonder doesn't it?

(P.S. Unless you're sourland and then it's self-inflicted, LOL)

i once told my neighbors there kid was going into the coop harassing the hens and they told me there kids would never do that until he got locked in there for 6 hours