Do chickens have to be locked in their coop at night?

[joebryant]

The times I have panicked were when I didn't close up the run before twilight. I've always closed the coop shortly before or after dark, but if the run is open around that time there's a BIG chance of a predator's walking about early and entering the run and the coop without my knowing that it's even there when I close up the coop. I try to get them locked into the run at least an hour before the sun starts to set. Later I go out to close up the coop's pop door.

It does no good to have a "Fort Knox" run if the run's gate is open, and mine's open all the time that chickens are out free ranging because they have to be able to get back into the run and coop to get water and/or lay eggs.

 

[Cherstin]

If you think you don't have the few minutes each evening and morning to spend going out to your coop, imagine this:

Divide the total time and cost it will take you to repair your run after a predator gets in, the time and energy spent picking up all the feathers and carcass pieces after your chicken gets attacked and partly eaten, and the waste of life because you didn't feel like locking the girls up every night. Divide all that into the number of days in a year and you'll see that it's more cost-effective, time-effective, and easier in the long run to close them in.

I made this mistake years ago with a huge pigeon and dove aviary I had going. I never thought in a million years that I'd lose them. The aviary was double fenced with a concrete bottom ... it took me weeks to build not to mention the cost. All was for nothing one morning when I came outside to a yard full of feathers and bent wire. I was heartbroken and I ended up practically giving the aviary away because I couldn't think of a better way to redo it. I thought it was perfect but those raccoons are wicked smart.

 

[ARchick]

I just learned first hand this past Friday night it is better to lock them up each night. I had 13 beautiful 11 week olds that I've been raising since they were a day old. I never thought anything would go through the small hole in the side of my barn to where there coop is & bother them with a light on inside. Well, Saturday morning I went out to check on them & found a big pile of feathers outside the run. I immediately knew something happened because none of them were outside in the run. A raccoon had gotten inside & got 7 of them in one night. I only found 2 in the ditch behind the barn with just their heads missing. NEVER AGAIN!!!, I built a door that day for the coop.

 

[Chicletmomma]

Mine is a 4x8 structure and they always go from their protected run to coop on their own around dusk and I closed that door and put a padlock on it until morning.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well, I love having my chicken door open, they get up when they want and so do I. It worked well for me for months... yeah, turns out coons are quite determined.

 

[Bluechick2u]

I have a llama flock guardian, without him I would ABSOLUTELY need to lock my chickens up in "fort knox" to keep the skunks from killing them.

 

[Rosenwinkel]

L

We have a small door for the chickens to go out of the coop and into a 3' by 8' fenced in area that is totally fenced in and preditor proof, do we need to lock them in the coop at night or can they always have access to the little run area?

Lock them up or a fox or raccoon can dig under the fence, or they will pry open where the fence is joined.

 

[bluecoop]

I'd thought my coop Fort Knox proof, wire dug in at least a foot below grade. Last fall a skunk climbed up and found a little loose wiring where starlings had been getting in, the next day 'Fatty' my favorite chicken was dead

 

[centrarchid]

This is an older than the hills thread.

You can get away from locking them up if you can exclude ground predators from the area around coop and make so owls cannot not just walk in. You can exclude with a heavy dog traffic or a combination of electric fencing and dog.

 

[Rosenwinkel]

I'd thought my coop Fort Knox proof, wire dug in at least a foot below grade. Last fall a skunk climbed up and found a little loose wiring where starlings had been getting in, the next day 'Fatty' my favorite chicken was dead

Exactly, I have heard it a hundred times. Also, when people put fencing under the coop instead of a wood floor, critters get in. I even had a raccoon break a single pane window with a older 4 pane, and haul out my chickens one by one all night long till most of them were gone.