Access to outside 24/7 good idea?

[ralleia]

We live on eleven acres, part-wooded, on the outskirts of a small town. One summer when the weather was warm, we got into the habit of leaving the pop door of the coop open overnight. The chicken yard is fenced with hardware cloth along the bottom and chicken wire up top to about six feet.

We didn't notice at first when we started losing hens--since we hadn't been keeping precise count we weren't really sure any had gone missing. Until the morning that we found a hen laying in the chicken run with her back ripped open.

Apparently the predator hadn't managed to get her back over the fence and left the evidence behind.

We've never left the door open overnight since. I am investigating one of those automatic doors to give us a little more liberty, though I'll want a chicken-cam, too!

Once a predator knows that it has an easy meal in a chicken coop it will keep coming back. Most predators will only take one chicken at a time, but a few will go on a killing spree and you could wake up to a coop of bloody feathers and dead chickens. For me, it is not worth the risk.

 

[doudini2]

Nicole, could you post a pic of the coop in the garage for me? I am racking my brain trying to come up with good coop inside our large but not peacock proofed garage. It had lot of nails and other unsafe edges on the wall. also I need to cut hole for him to go in and out.

Thank you.

 

[Nicole01]

Quote:
You bet. It's not quite finished yet, we still need to finish the run and put one more wall up. I'll take the pictures this afternoon. I need to charge the camera battery.

 

[doudini2]

Thank you so much.

 

[drumstick diva]

doudini 2 I think you should call your rooster Henri Cluckseau

 

[Garrison]

My coop doesn't have a door to the run. I just made sure it is secure. We live in avocado groves with three ponds with in a twenty acre area. With all the food water and hunting restrictions, I would venture to say we have more coyotes per acre than just about anywhere. Nothing has got to the birds while in the run or coop in two years. I can take off on vacation for four or five days with out making arrangments for a chicken sitter.

 

[drumstick diva]

Garrison - what a fantastic setup. Probably easier to bust into Alcatraz.

 

[ocpoolguy]

garrison NICE!!!! great set up

 

[Nicole01]

Garage coop set up. Sorry for the mess with the first photo. We had to move everything out of the way as the coop was our storage area. Our coop is 12x4.

Inside the coop

There is a full size door to the outside. We are cutting holes for chicken access and for air flow.