Do I need to lock chickens up at night

[Red Mangrove]

My intelligent birds roost as high as possible in trees at night. A possum actually attacked here a few nights ago and the hen just flew to another tree

It seems like whenever I hear about chicken deaths on this website 90% of the time it's inside of a coop

Chickens are birds and God gave them wings and instincts to keep themselves alive, and typically they're pretty good at it. However it's always situational, and it depends entirely on the area and breed of chicken

I've had my chickens sleeping in trees for almost two years now and I've never lost a chicken in a tree. Only in my coop or on the ground. Even my one silkie here gets about six feet off the ground and she's fine at night, despite the foxes that live on my land

 

[Debbie292d]

I have been locking my chickens up at night and I know there have been coyotes like 3 blocks away and possums and raccoons in town plus an armadillo in my yard but should I lock my chickens upView attachment 3576965

Is that a trick question? I don't get it. You have chickens, so of course. I think we've missed a time or two and got lucky, but in 7 years, nothing but a chipmunk got in our coop, and that was broad daylight. We tempt fate to not lock them up. It's just a matter of time if you don't.

 

[MarkRainbolt]

I’m in Oklahoma and it has windows that are made from some steel mesh each hole is like 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch the windows are on the front and backView attachment 3577781this was when I had ducks and it has one on the opposite end

Just out of curiosity how many chickens do you have? From the looks of the windows they are 12x12 which is 1 square foot of ventilation for each window. So you have enough ventilation for 2 chickens. And since you are in Oklahoma you’re summers are very hot like mine. I am not trying to give you any grief just trying to help.
Mark

 

[Bananabread]

You should consider getting an automatic door for the coop if the physical act of getting in there to close the coop is becoming a burden. The alternative is to attach a draw string through an eye-hook and exist out the side of the coop so you could pull up and lower it down as you please wihtout much effort.

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Predators gotta eat too !!

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

You should consider getting an automatic door for the coop if the physical act of getting in there to close the coop is becoming a burden. The alternative is to attach a draw string through an eye-hook and exist out the side of the coop so you could pull up and lower it down as you please wihtout much effort.

It doesn’t bother me but if I go away for a weekend and have my mom take care of them she doesn’t like to lock them up and it’s hard for her to get really early in the morning to let them out

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Just out of curiosity how many chickens do you have? From the looks of the windows they are 12x12 which is 1 square foot of ventilation for each window. So you have enough ventilation for 2 chickens. And since you are in Oklahoma you’re summers are very hot like mine. I am not trying to give you any grief just trying to help.

Mark

We bought a chicken coop made for 25 and we are going to end up with 22 and I don’t know what I could do to add extra ventilation

 

[Bananabread]

post some pictures and we can come up with some ideas for where to cut holes for ventilation. The easiest option is often to make the cut the wall directly on the side that's shared with the run. That way while you should still secure it with some hardware cloth you don't have to go crazy as you might need to with the sides that are exposed to the world without the added benefit of the predator proofing your run already provides.

In terms of going away on weekends, all the more reason to get an automatic coop door. Your hens probably already know to put themselves away before it gets dark and the door automatically closes. That said, every once in awhile a chicken gets left out and sure makes a fuss of their circumstance...

 

[MarkRainbolt]

Just out of curiosity how many chickens do you have? From the looks of the windows they are 12x12 which is 1 square foot of ventilation for each window. So you have enough ventilation for 2 chickens. And since you are in Oklahoma you’re summers are very hot like mine. I am not trying to give you any grief just trying to help.

We bought a chicken coop made for 25 and we are going to end up with 22 and I don’t know what I could do to add extra ventilation

Just how big is that coop? For a coop to be big enough for 25 chickens it would have to be 10 x 10 100 square feet for 25 chickens that 4 square feet per bird. But I am sorry it sure doesn’t seem to be a 100 square foot coop.
Mark

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Just how big is that coop? For a coop to be big enough for 25 chickens it would have to be 10 x 10 100 square feet for 25 chickens that 4 square feet per bird. But I am sorry it sure doesn’t seem to be a 100 square foot coop.
Mark

it’s just under 200 it’s just under 10 feet wide by just under 20 feet long