Does anyone leave their chickens out all night?

[patandchickens]

Quote:
The thing is, you can *assume* your 'out' is predatorproof, but it often turns out not to have ACTUALLy been

Read some of the threads over in the Predators and Pests section.

Then see whether you really want to try it.

If you do, other than the "all my chickens got eaten, I was SURE nothing could get in" problem, there is no especial reason why a popdoor must be closed at night.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[cluckychick]

Mine come and go at will. I don't close the pop doors and by dusk they are all usually in their respected homes. Last night a couple of coons were fighting not far away and my dog took care. I've not had any issues (knock on wood).

My BIL has a old milk can chair that he uses to sit in the run to watch chicken TV and in the evenings he will open one human door and he loves to watch the chickens line up single file and go in for the evening.

 

[CityChook]

I suppose that there is no reason to have to lock them in, but all they do is sleep anyways, so why not? I sleep better at night not having to worry about their safety.

With the warmer weather (and I'm guessing new babies), the coons in my area are really active now. I'm in the city. Just tonight at dusk I watched one that was as big as my lab come down out of a tree and saunter across my back yard. After it left the yard I went out and double checked the coop. I padlock both the pop door and the human door even tho the run is pred proof. Creepy.

 

[ChickenNoodle]

I've never locked them out of their run. They never leave their coop at night and, so far, nothing has gotten in to get them. I leave for work when it's still dark out, so it wouldn't make sense to lockthem in for just part of the time when it's dark.

 

[EngieKisses]

We lock all of ours up because all they are gonna do is sleep anyway. They dont move once they are roosted till morning.

 

[txchickie]

We only have 1 or 2 hens that return to the coop at night.......the rest roost in the trees. They only go back to the coop b.c that's where their nests are.

Ours are true free rangers LOL. The guineas taught them to get high up in the trees and we have yet to lose a chicken. And we are in the boonies in Texas with coyotes, etc...just no losses. We've been lucky!

 

[pattyjean73]

I too sleep late into the morning so I like the idea of leaving the pop door open and letting them have access to the run. However, I then think about my investment... not only monetary investment but aslo the time and care that raising chicks require. 3 weeks in the incubator (while you nervously/anxiously await their hatching) then several more weeks in a brooder (while you stress about keeping it warm enough without being too warm for them and take pleasure in watching them grow)... and then you have the pleasure of seeing their reaction to their permanent home for the first time... and so forth. Although the open door is tempting I personally wouldn't want to lose my investment. It would just be much easier to set one of the kids out to open the door in the mornings on their way to the school bus. *shrugs*

 

[Mahonri]

I've seen too many owls in the neighborhood. I don't dare leave mine out.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

It depends on whether or not your chickens would actually be safe from predators if left out in your yard. Are you living in a city that has fenced yards and doesn't have natural wildlife (raccoons, coyotes, possums, etc) nearby?

Our first batch of chickens were kept loose in our backyard and they slept in a large tree every night (we have a warm & fairly dry climate here). We live in a large city with mountains and open desert nearby. We also have a dry wash behind us instead of neighbors, but I never dreamed a large animal would jump our 6 ft. fence and get into our back yard. One morning, we discovered one of our hens had been killed by a bobcat or coyote. We then sold the rest because we were afraid the animal would come back and get the others.

Last fall, we decided to try again and built an official chicken coop/run to keep the chickens safe at night. Our coop has only 3 sides, so the chickens do have full access to their run.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=19548

I do know of others in our city that keep their chickens outside, unpenned with no problems, but they are surrounded by close neighbors with fences. There are a lot of areas here, near Phoenix, that don't have wild animals living near them.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Ours stay in the outside part of their pen at night. They have a little house that they can go into, but they prefer to stay outside and are healthy and happy as they can be. We haven't had them during cold weather yet, so maybe they will go inside when it gets cold. Of course, the pen that they stay outside in is very secure.