locking my chicks in a coop every night. Will they be safe?

[MydearWatson]

My husband is in the process of building our coop and I just want to make sure we make it as safe as possible. My babies will be locked in the coop each night. If there are no gaps in the wood by the door and window, can I pretty much consider them safe? I am going to put a carabiner on the latch to make sure the door cant be opened by any animal and there will be hardware cloth on the inside of the window and any vents we put in. The coop is about 4 inches off the ground and whatever animals dig underground would have to get through two pieces of plywood to get into the coop through the floor.

The coop is under trees so predators can drop in over my fenced back yard to try and get in the coop. We have the usual nocturnal predators as well as some feral cats around. Will my little babies be safe?

 

[DancingHen]

If all vents and windows are covered securely in hardware cloth, doors have good locks (I use padlocks as racoons can be very tricky) and the walls are built of good solid plywood....then they will be safe. Or at least as safe as you can make them. Sounds to me like you have all the bases covered. Good luck.

 

[cupman]

Scan the trees with a powerful flashlight and a gun every night you put the girls to bed. I lost one of my chickens and the very next night when I was putting them to bed the culprit was in the trees above me waiting, leering down at the chickens planning out his next meal. I actually interrupted the attack, it had pried the staples and chicken wire out and was about ready to snag another bird. I noticed the hole and began searching the trees. Staples aren't always enough to keep them out, I'd look into finding more heavy duty nails. But yeah, scan the trees at night, and shoot any of the raccoons hanging around. Luckily I was able to shoot the culprit, and my coop has not been disturbed since.

 

[teach1rusl]

If you have (or will take) all the measures you mentioned, feel at ease, at least with "normal" predators (coons, coyotes, foxes, etc.). Bears might be another story, but hopefully those aren't in your area. Leaving the pop door open at night, chicken wire over windows, big gaps between boards, human error in not latching things up at night - those are the main culprits in losing birds to nocturnal predators...