Lock my coop door at night?

[gitlost80]

Hi, I am building my first coop, and wanna know if a flapping dog door still needs to be locked shut every nite even when the coop is inside of a predator-proof run? Do they come out at night and party if i dont lock it? Thanks

 

[Countrywife]

We lock all ours, not cause the girls come out, but because rats go in.

 

[gryeyes]

If you are absolutely SURE your run is predator proof, then you can leave the door open with that pet flap to help keep the cold air out and the warm air in. Chicken poker parties are inside affairs.

 

[toletiquesbysam]

I shut and close mine up every night. I don't have a "lock" on it but a slider that keeps it shut nice and tight!

 

[Teach97]

I leave my door open as their outside space is perfectly safe...well...so far

 

[CityChook]

I lock mine every night using a small luggage lock. Key is hanging next to the human door (which is also locked). Coop and run are like fort knox. Never even have had anyone attempt to get in. I'm in the city, but have a very healthy urban raccoon population that travels through my backyard nightly. The last thing I want is for my kids to go out in the morning to feed/water the girls and find a slaughter scene.

Maybe try checking out the predator section before making your final decision.

 

[jaboo81]

If we r at home we close and lock it. If we r gone we do not ask the people helping out to come over twice a day to open and close up the pen.

 

[Doormantnt]

I was told by an old farmer a while back...."Only lock-up the ones you really want to keep.....let the one's you don't mind lossin' run".... works bout the same for the coop I assume.....I lock my run door, and coop doors.....don't really want to loose any of my 6 I guess.


TNT

 

[gitlost80]

Thanks for the suggestions!!!

 

[gsim]

City chook nailed it for me too. I do a lockdown even tho I have a 6 ft tall welded wire fence set in cement with a fence charger on it. Not 3 nights ago I had a power outage of 1 1/2 hrs. That is plenty of time for a coon to enter and kill all 23 of my chooks. Best to have two lines of defense in case Murphy's law renders the first one inoperable.