Coop or coop & run while away.

[NHMountainMan]

First time chicken owner here and looking for advice. I'm putting the finishing touches on the coop - it'll be ready for the half dozen 3 week old chicks to move in when they're ready.

We'll be away for 4 days this fall, without easy availability for a chicken sitter. The coop is 6X8 and the fully covered run is 24'x 8' with 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere, with a buried skirt to block diggers. The entire area is surrounded by 4' electric poultry netting, which also surrounds our beehives (which we've had for years and so far, no predator has gotten to them - we tie bacon to the fence to train the bears to avoid the area!)

We abut 10's of thousands of acres of conservation / national forest - and we have regular visits of black bear, moose, deer, bobcat, coyote, fox, and the occasional lynx in winter. Hawks and owls are abundant.

So - my question - should I leave them in the coop for the 4 days, with plenty of food and water, or do I buy one of the mechanical / electric door options allowing them access to the run. My instincts say keep them inside, as I fear a moose could wander straight through the electric fence (nothing will stop a bull moose during fall rut!). If the fence is down, black bear would get through the hardware cloth, as they are trying to bulk up for winter.

Keep them in, or allow them to come and go as they please with the automatic door? If door - any recommendation on the brand to buy?

Thanks!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

You've got a tough situation that revolves around whether the fence is up or not. As long as the fence is up, either choice likely works. If something knocks the fence down, the birds only have a slightly better chance in the coop. It's been a while since I visited the bear threads, but they are powerful animals that can do a lot of damage to a coop.

Do you have someone who would be willing to fix the fence if it were knocked down? If so, maybe a simple security camera that you can access from your phone would allow you to check the fence regularly. Once a bear has been bitten by the fence they tend to shy away from it and it takes them time to realize it's down. When I was traveling between houses, I used Foscam cameras to monitor my driveway. They are wifi and work pretty well but they don't record or record to the website as advertised. Also their tech support is in China.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Thanks for the advice - hadn't thought about wifi cameras to monitor the fence. Great idea and thanks for the reply

 

[rjohns39]

My pleasure.

 

[PetitePlume]

I don't know where you are located, but up here, for what the COs told me, bears go for the grains, not the chickens... Do you have weasels or other small predator around? Is you coop plenty big so the chickens don't get bored? Because that could lead to other problems. Good luck!