Coop door....open or shut at night?

[murdeb]

Do I leave the door on my coop open at night or do I close it and keep the birds in all night? The run is real secure.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I don't close my coop because there is a portion of my run, right off the coop that is all hardware cloth. That way they can come out when they want in the morning and then I can let them out to free range when I want to get up!

 

[mrpekinduck]

I let my ducks run around in their run or their coop but only because their run is made out of hardware cloth and has a secure top and bottom. If your run is really secure then it's ok but remember that there are predators that think your chickens will make a good midnight snack. Good luck and hope your chickens stay safe

 

[chickschool]

I don't shut mine up at night. They free range around the yard during the day then I lock them up in the fence surrounding the coop at night but I don't lock them up in the coop itself. However...we don't have a lot of predators in this area but if we did I would most definitely lock them securely in the coop.

 

[donnavee]

My coop door lets out into a secure run (hardware cloth and a covered roof - so I leave the coop door open except during the months when the nightly temps drop below freezing. Here in NC, that is normally only the winter months. That way, I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to let them out of the coop. They hang out in the secure run until I let them out into the larger fenced run. I have been doing it this way for the last 2 yrs and it has worked great for me.

 

[Runt Of The Litter]

this is just speaking from own experiences but woud personaly say to keep it shut.
we have lost a lot of chickens at home and our farm from foxes due to leaving the coop door open at night,despite both runs being like fortresses.
one of our runs is especialy fox proof-its part of the omlet eglu and can be bought from retail,its designed to be fox proof but have come to realise there isnt really such a thing,foxes are clever little buggers,a desperate animal will work their way around anything unless its built on concrete,and themed more like alcatraz prison.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

We didn't go nuts with run security, it's just to keep them contained if we are gone for the day not keep serious night predators out.

We close up the coop every night. Let 'em out every morning.

 

[Jeffross1968]

We have a run that we consider 90% secure...the only thing missing is buried cloth around the bottom. It's a 10x10 dog run with hardware cloth across the top. However, the bottom is not completely lacking. The entire bottom all the way around is surrounded by very heavy logs and rocks. No part of the bottom can be touched. But if something wanted to dig under, while they'd have a very tough time, they could probably do it. So, we lock at night. That being said, we have a weekend camping trip next weekend, and a 6 or 7 day vacation coming, and during those times we'll be leaving the coop door open. Can't let chickens completely run our life, and we've done what we can financially. Cross our fingers....there will be someone coming around every couple days collecting eggs and checking for issues.

 

[murdeb]

We live in the "suburbs" and have a fenced in back yard. We do have raccoons, armadillos and the occasional bobcat although the only thing I've ever seen in the backyard was an armadillo. Will the chickens stay inside all night or do they wander around in the dark?

 

[sgtmom52]

I lock my coop at night because of things like this...

This was taken inside the run which is covered with heavy duty aviary netting ~ the raccoon was squeezing through a small hole where the netting goes around a tree.