Do you ALWAYS lock your coop at dusk?

[greenfamilyfarms]

Yes, but there a times when I simply forget.

I'll wake myself up in the middle of the night and realize that I didn't shut the door.

 

[fiberart57]

I always lock them up at night in their house in the wintertime for security and warmth. But my plans for this summer are the same as they were for last summer: to leave the door of their house open.

I have a playhouse coop, well contained and very secure with hardware cloth, and if it gets really hot, they'd rather be outside.

Mary

 

[toletiquesbysam]

We lock the coop every night but we do not always get home before dusk! The chickens are always in the coop though, bunkered down when we get home. It's our Sebbie geese who are usually out in front of the coop waiting for us to come and tell them it's time for bed!

 

[fldiver97]

I do even though the run is enclosed and covered..... I would worry too much if I would leave the pop door open

 

[fasbendera]

I have gotten home late and locked it well afte dusk numerous times. The few occasions that I actually forgot to lock the coop I went out the next morning and held my breath until I did a head count. No a habit I want to get into and I have been lucky on those few occasions.

 

[Kim_NC]

We lock up at dusk everyday except on the rare occasions that we're not here. Then we do it as soon as we get back after dark. When we're gone, we have a neighbor who comes at dusk, and lets them out each morning around 8:30am (a bit later than I do, but it's fine.)

 

[verlaj]

My husband built an automatic door on a timer. I set it to close at dusk so we don't have to be here every day at that time. I always check on it when I get home in case of a mishap. Only time it hasn't worked is when the OPERATOR didn't set it properly or if we had a power outage during the day and the timer was off for a while. I love the auto-door! Everyone should have one!

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Always. Even if we come back at midnight and were out for some reason, the first thing I do is let myself in the house, get a flashlight, lock up the coop, and if we weren't home all day, do a head-count. Never had any predator troubles, (

) don't want to start now.

 

[CheepSunglasses]

Yep. We forgot to shut the door on one coop one time and the raccoons had a field day that night. Never since.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I sit with the girls while they free range--as soon as they go in I close the coop door and lock the run door. We have too many predators to do it any other way..