Do you lock your nestboxes? (external access door style)

[chickengoober]

I've got a tricky little latch on mine because we have a lot of raccoons in our area (and snakes

) So yes I would say go ahead and put a latch

 

[Caribear]

I agree about the raccoons. We had to learn the hard way and lost 2 birds to a raccoon even though our neighbor has like three coon dogs not 30 feet from our coop. We now have the gate hasps where the eye part turns after it's closed (can't remember what they're called) and then we put a short stick through the eye part. Gate latches should work well too, it just depends how your box is set up.

 

[Going Quackers]

you would be very surprised what is around even "in town". Even big cities have raccoons and some have coyotes too.

we have a lovely collection of predators here on our island: bob cats, gators, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, possum, oh and rats. (yep rats are predators to small birds) LGD outside full time and rat traps keeps everything in check.

I'm in the country, so we have bears, mountain lions, coons, fox, skunks, owls, hawks, coyotes, wolves etc lol Thankfully NO gators!

I have locks or a locking carabiner (?) on all access points into the coop. We have a lot of critters out here and I would rather spend the money up front than be consumed by guilt if the ladies were attacked and/or killed.

There are a few other things to consider. One is a spring loaded gate hasp. You have to pull the guard down and simultaneously maneuver the hook out of the eye bolt. I use these in combination with a padlock to secure some doors, e.g., a long, skinny nest box door that needs to be attached to the coop at more than one point.

Raccoons and opossums exist in most cities. Food sources are plentiful so they do not need to be out searching for hours like they do in the wild. You may never see them but since you are going to be offering a chicken buffet you may start to notice them!

Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestions, i'm in the country, no city, just outside town so we have a lot out here that is why i figured i was correct with locking it down. Just the method of doing so has left me a bit fuzzy lol

 

[Going Quackers]

I agree about the raccoons. We had to learn the hard way and lost 2 birds to a raccoon even though our neighbor has like three coon dogs not 30 feet from our coop. We now have the gate hasps where the eye part turns after it's closed (can't remember what they're called) and then we put a short stick through the eye part. Gate latches should work well too, it just depends how your box is set up.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Mass Mike]

we use just a garden variety 2 part latch with the hooked hasp on the under side of the nesting box (the lide over hangs the boxes just a little and an eye hook screwed into the nesting box. It's a $1.50 solution that will give you lots of extra peace of mind. you can kinda see it in this shot of our coop, if you look in the center of the nesting box lid:

 

[Going Quackers]

we use just a garden variety 2 part latch with the hooked hasp on the under side of the nesting box (the lide over hangs the boxes just a little and an eye hook screwed into the nesting box. It's a $1.50 solution that will give you lots of extra peace of mind. you can kinda see it in this shot of our coop, if you look in the center of the nesting box lid:

Is it a hook and loop? i'll see if i can find what i mean..

Something like this?