Do I actually need a pop-door that closes?

[patandchickens]

Huh, thought I replied to this, will try again:

Quote:
I don't believe anyone's said it's CERTAIN. It's a lottery. The number could come up tonight, or not during your lifetime. For most people, it's somewhere in between, but just as there are people who keep horses in barbwire paddocks full of broken beer bottles and rusty buicks and nothing ever happens, or people who <insert your pet-peeve highly risky behavior here> every day of their lives and die of old age, it is certainly POSSIBLE to have chickens in a basically-not-predatorproof setup all your life and have nothing happen.

It's just not *likely*. And you cannot know in advance which way your luck will run.

My run is fully enlosed with welded wire, 100%, screwed into wooden frame with fender washers; hardwear cloth (1/2 inch) apron dug in aprox 6-8 inches all 4 sides.<snip>Can raccoons, coyotes or skunks claw/chew their way thru welded wire?

If it is heavy duty livestock-type wire fencing, your predators are pretty unlikely to go through it.

However if your wire is buried only vertically, they can easily go under it if they happen to want to (6-8" is *nothing* to a determined digger).

And of course what usually "gets" people with well-built runs is gradual deterioration over time that goes unnoticed... the wood softens around a fastener or two, etc.

Not criticizing at all, just being realistic.

Anyway, not wanting to be disrespectful, but I just don't think that it's fair to say that those of us who do not shut up a coop door at night are careless and that we don't mind "if someday you have to pick up bloody chicken parts and buy new hens."

Yes, well, notice that's NOT what I said

I did not ascribe that attitude to everyone who leaves their door open at night; I just said that if the original poster and her housemates had that attitude (which I do not see as being derogatory btw) then it seemed perfectly reasonable to leave the door open.

Anyone leaving the door open at night needs to accept that the choice IS more inherently risky, though.

I often read on BYC here about people who think their COOP is 100% predator prood and turn out to be wrong, so people can underestimate predators whether they shut a coop door or not.

Yes, that's exactly my point in fact. And a lot MORE risky when you intentionally forego a good safeguard (the door).

I think it is totally a personal decision how much risk you are comfortable with <shrug>.

Just sayin',

Pat​

 

[JanetSmithery]

I don't know that anyone said having an open coop would result in the certain demise of a flock or that having one implied carelessness. Maybe even the opposite: there are some noted health gains to having such a coop. My original post was intended to help me get an idea of the probability of predation if I did. I know no coop is entirely predator proof--someone in my city has a coop quite similar to the one we're building (kinda like this one ), and she fastens all her gates with carabiners. Well, the raccoons learned how to open the carabiners, entered the coop through the egg box, and massacred her small flock.

Who could have seen that one coming?

At any rate, there's probably an increased risk of predation if you never closing a pop door because it's just another weak spot in the system. Depending on the construction and maintenance of the run, though, that risk should be slight. I really don't think that closing a pop door or having an open coop doesn't mean anyone's a careless keeper.

Incidentally, we agreed to try opening and closing manually for a couple of weeks, and if we can't do that, then we'll leave the door open. If we notice any signs of things trying to get into the coop, we'll get an automatic door.

 

[3chimama]

I'm with PatandChickens...broke my heart one year when a raccoon had reached in through the chicken wire and tried pulling out one of my hens. Went down to check on my hens to find Lucy's decapited body inside the run...very sad day for me. I now always lock my chickens up at night.