We have a hen house attached to a run that's about 6' x 8' (the outdoor part), and a larger fenced yard that we let the chickens run in during the day, but close them in at night since I know there are raccoons here. We used to feel OK about leaving the chickens closed in the coop for a few days if we were out of town, but that was when we had 9 and now we have 15 and I'm worried that they'll be too stressed if we leave them in that space for two or three days. So my question is, could I somehow run electric wire around the door frame into the coop and put it on a timer so they would be protected during the night? Would it work if I put it on the doorsill where hopefully a raccoon would touch it if it tried to go in, or would it be messed up by having chickens step over/on/kick dust on all day? Or does anyone have another suggestion??
