Do you need to close them in at night if it's an all enclosed coop?

[triplepurpose]

A coop that small shouldn't be too hard to predator-proof, and I know it would make my life much easier in the long run and save lots of hassle not to have to open and close the door daily, and the birds would be more comfortable coming and going freely at first light. Traditionally henhouse doors were closed at night back when chickens tended to roam freely, because it was the easiest/only way to protect them, or in situatiosn where the size of the run made it impractical/cost prohibitive to fully predator proof. But your little coop is very contained and solidly built, and smaller than a lot of people's henhouses to begin with...

 

[bucky52]

The only doors that I close and padlock are the human doors.the pop doors in my coop stay open.my run is secure.two layers of wire and two strands of hot wire and concrete pavers surround my coops and runs.plus we skirted the runs with wire and buried it.so that keeps anything from digging under..So far so good.have not lost any of my girls.in the summer months when it gets day light at 5:30.they have access to their water.and they clean up any spilled food.while they wait for me to bring them fresh food and water.

 

[organichick]

Durable grid wire buried around the coop 12 inches deep and overhead bird netting works for our run outside the coop; making daytime a much larger run without the worries of predatory birds like hawks or eagles.

 

[ladyearth]

Heck my run that goes from coop door is very secured but I still close their pop door.... and the gate that goes to the very large fenced in 100 by 100 area
Have one plain chicken door for cooler weather and a hdwe cloth grided door for very warm weather
I have accidentally forgot to close THEIR door several times..... and it scared me.....I am not taking any chances.... thismis for my 1 year olds Barr rockers.
Now my 2 and 1/2 months old GIRLS are in a seperate Fort Knox run and coop..... with couple temperory extension for day use only... They will stay in their Ft Knox kennel till they are almost full grown.....I dont trust the wild little girls out of their large run intothe 100 by 100 fenced in field.... course it opened o the sky.. with a watchful ROO ROO,,
of course the two groups can see each other... the 1 yr old walk around younger coop whining when they see them getting omething to eat etc that they dont get Or Want even.. LOL
just my two cents

 

[rides2far]

I lock mine with a snap that takes a strong opposable thumb to unlatch. Just in case