Leave the coop door open at night???

[tomingreeneco]

Got home a little later then expected one night and was not home in time to close the coop door (about a half hour after dark). I had those night guard lights all around but they proved useless. A coon had went into the coop and killed two of my chickens. Got the coon the next night, but the damage was already done. Now I ALWAYS make sure the door is closed once the last chicken goes into the coop.

 

[hbwbk]

It is cold here in the winters some days I will not be able to let the girls out all day or a couple of days. They should be fine in the Hen house for a little
while in the mornings as long as they have some room. And yes I would lock them up tight a night. Thats what I am going to do when my girls are old enogh.
I don't want any harm to come to them.

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hi! We don't close our door at night, but we have a completely covered run with en electric fence. I have seen evidence of dogs which have been "discouraged" by the electric fence which otherwise would probably have gotten through or under the chain link fence. So, long story short...w/o the electric fence I would close the door. Good luck!

 

[PrettyCoy]

I haven't built our coop yet, but it'll be a coop with an attached fully enclosed run (partly roofed and hardware cloth covering the whole thing and extending out in case of digging). I plan on having the coop door open all of the time with some sort of cloth strips hanging down to keep drafts down in the winter.

 

[Sjisty]

Our coop is a remodeled storage building. We have a run attached that hubby built with 1" x 1/2" hardware on all sides and top. I leave the door between the coop/run open all the time. We also have smaller runs/coops that are also totally enclosed. The only run I have that gets closed up at night is the baby grow-out pen, but that is to keep out the older chickens. We also have a dog that patrols the yard at night, soon to be 2 dogs (getting a pup this weekend), so I feel pretty secure.

 

[bburn]

I have not wanted a dog since mine was killed by the neighbors dogs.

I am however considering another dog. Something big. If I could get away with it I would completely surround the runs with a large fence and put the dog in there to live!

Trying to secure your coop after they have found their way in is a bad deal. You feel terrible for not having protected them. My DH before was ah, they are just chickens.....now he is out of town working and ANYTHING I want to do is okay now after something getting the broody hen and even eating her eggs!

Today is the second day of turning it into Ft. Knox. I mentioned the elec fence to him and he nixed it. However, I did say when he gets home I want two huge flood lights that are motion lights put at each end of the coop. It is outside our bedroom window so we would see the lights when they come on. Maybe being motion lights they would spook whatever comes around.

You do what you have to do to protect them.

 

[karengrace]

I will not let the door open all night as I can't stay awake the whole night knowing what will happen with my chicks. I will feel at ease if I am sure that my chicks are all fine.

 

[stormylady]

ABSOLUTELY!! KEEP THAT DOOR SHUT AT NIGHT! Big mistake I made thinking that they were safe, a raccoon had a hayday it got 9 of my hens, never had a problem until then, then they were just gone . Don't take that chance no matter how secure you think that your coop and run are. Just to mention that after the first attack on my chickens I closed and locked my pophole door and that raccoon tore up the door and finished killing the other 8 girls.

 

[hispoptart]

DH bought me a pre made coop and it does not have a door. My 4 have been out in it for almost 2 weeks now. DH is going to attach a door and then I can lock them in. Yesterday they were huddled in the corner of the outside part of the coop, it was raining and the it started to hail. My DD went out and put them all inside, the silly things just came back out. Guess they weren't as bothered by the rain as I thought.

 

[Malbri]

I had 2 mother silkies with about 8 chicks that I started putting outside in my new coop which has a huge run attached to it. I thought this thing was pretty wells sealed with wire buried underneath the entire thing then attatched to the sides of the run so there were no gaps. If there was a weak point I figured it would be the roof which I hadn't quite finished. I thought it was safe to leave the coop door open, but then one morning I went out and they were all gone! There was a tiny hole in the ground where something had dug underneath and stretched the wire enough to get through and somehow leave with 10 chickens and not even leave more than a few feathers. I'm certainly putting stronger wire down now and leaving them in at night, especially since the fox got my huge roo yesterday.
Its always best to just take the extra step to prevent anything from getting in or even trying to.