We're new to chickens, and have a nice coop - a kind of upstairs-downstairs idea, with the nesting area up a ladder and the bottom area open, similar common triangular designs, but more of a cube than a pyramid.
My wife thinks we need to put the whole coop into the garage at night to (a) keep the chickens warm and (b) keep them safe from predators. We live in the countryside in Ireland, so it's not exactly warm, but not that cold this time of year. To prevent predators (mainly foxes around here), I put old paving slabs on the ground around the coop to stop them digging in.
Is this enough, and are they safe and warm outside like this? Or is my wife right that we should get the chickens indoors in our garage every night??
My wife thinks we need to put the whole coop into the garage at night to (a) keep the chickens warm and (b) keep them safe from predators. We live in the countryside in Ireland, so it's not exactly warm, but not that cold this time of year. To prevent predators (mainly foxes around here), I put old paving slabs on the ground around the coop to stop them digging in.
Is this enough, and are they safe and warm outside like this? Or is my wife right that we should get the chickens indoors in our garage every night??