Is your coop door closed every night?

[PunkinPeep]

I don't think i can believe there is such thing as a secure run where i live. I have lost an entire flock to raccoons when i thought they were secure, so i make sure everyone is inside with the door shut tight at dusk, no matter the weather.

 

[Beekissed]

Pop door is always open except in extreme single digit weather. I free range, so no secure run....but I have two of the meanest predators sleeping outside the pop door.

I say, if you have guards outside your door, leave 'em open!

 

[Kim_NC]

Ours are locked in every night. The #1 reason is to protect them from predators. We also do a head count.

In the Winter time, closing the coop overnight also reduces draft and cold.

 

[Uzuri]

Locked at sundown. I've no interest in going out in the morning and finding I'm raising a family of raccoons.

 

[huntsman]

Thank you so much for the replies!

It's great to see people so passionate about their subject. I'm really encouraged to do a good job....

Clearly security is the chief concern here, and I will take special care to secure everything.

 

[Turkenlover]

Every night, to keep the bad guys out!! I've been burned before!

 

[vstoltzfus]

I just don't trust my run, so I always lock the coop up tight.

 

[Jim from Cincinnati]

yes...every night

 

[lovinlife]

I live in central Texas, a warm climate. My chickens are housed in a chain link dog run, 10'x20' with chicken wire over the top. They have a roost in the corner that is covered with a tarp. The laying boxes are plastic crates stuffed with hay under the tarp. I don't have a "coop" per se, just the covered corner. They do just fine. All 12 of them line up along the sheltered roost when it's cold, and we had a week of nights in the upper teens lately. No problems at all. In the summer, they prefer to sleep in the open on a different roost.

I definitely close the gate every night. One night I thought someone else had closed the gate and the next morning my broody buff orpington was gone, just a bunch of pretty feathers left in the nest. I always do a head count and make sure they are locked up in the pen.

 

[briana1975]

I lock actually padlock mine in each evening. The racoons can open all kinds of things but they can't get my key and unlock the coop. We have windows covered in hardwire cloth that we keep open in the summer heat.