Newbie coop question

[tracylhl]

We have a coop made and it seems to be working fine except for one thing... although they have a comfy coop, they chose to stay in the gated run we have for them when night comes. They'll hang out in the coop during the hot days but then sleep in the grass. During the night occasionally, something is sticking a paw through and grabbing gobs of feathers off of them. It hasn't been able to really hurt them yet, but a friend told us that we should put a door on the coop and close them in at night. Said that's how they did it on a farm he used to work at. They are next to our house in a fenced backyard in a very residential area so whatever is getting at them is either a racoon or a neighbor's cat. Is the door the way to go or should I not be closing them in at night?

ETA: Forgot to say that the coop is attached to the run so they have free rein to go in and out as they choose and all of it has metal fencing around it.

 

[annek]

You have something grabbing gobs of feathers off of them at night and you have to ask! Chances are you are going to find pieces of them one morning. You need to lock them up at night or secure the run better so nothing can stick its paws in to grab them. Get them in the coop or get ready to write the "what killed my chickens message"!

One of the fattest raccoons I have ever seen was at my sisters subdivision in Michigan when I was out one night on garbage night walking my dogs. Raccoons love subdivision living and that would be my guess.

 

[tracylhl]

Sorry. I didn't mean to sounds stupid. I just have never had chickens before and and for all I know, locking them up at night might cause them to fight amongst themselves and kill each other or something. We are planning to put a door on the coop this afternoon. I was really just double checking to be sure that it was okay to do it.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I'm thinking the same thing too. 'you gotta ask'

It's good you've come to this site. It's a great place to learn everything you can about raising chickens. Better to have read it before you got chicks but at least you haven't lost any YET. Very lucky for your chicks.

I'm new too with ten standard chicks that are now 13 wks old.

Go to the home page and read everything there on how to care for chicks.

And YES, lock up those chicks at night if you want them alive in the morning.

If your coop is so very hot, put in more ventilation or cut up some chunks of sod and put in there for them to lay on or freeze gallon jugs of water and put those in there for them to lay next to if they get too hot maybe.

Good luck and WELCOME to BYC's from Olympia WA

 

[CityChook]

First,

from MN! You were right to ask and have definitely come to the right place for information. Spend a few (or a hundred) hours here and learn all that others can teach you. Use the search function (upper blue bar) for searching specific topics.

I would recommend spending some time over in the Predators/Pests section of this forum. It will scare the bejesus out of you and you will go out and spend whatever pennies you have to put on a secure door with a lock. The fact that something (my guess is a raccoon) is grabbing at your babies through the run fencing tells me that you have a) too big of holes in your fencing material (I'd recommend re-enforcing it with hardware wire 1/2 inch) and b) that you absolutely need to close them up at night and lock the coop. You have earned the interest of a predator in your yard and they aren't going to go away any time soon. Just because you are in the city doesn't mean that there aren't *many* beasties out there in the night that would love a chicken dinner. I'd hate to see a post coming from you saying that Rocky Raccoon killed all your babies. Run, don't walk, and get that door done.

 

[patandchickens]

What they said.

You will have to teach the chickens to go in to roost. It is really easy. Once they are settled in <wherever> for the evening, go out there and catch them (not a challenging task in dim light with them half-asleep) and manually PUT them on the roost. Then close the popdoor when you leave so they're stuck in there (and of course let them out in the morning). Some chickens learn right away, others need to be put on the roost at night for some days or even a week or more, but they all eventually get the clue that the place they wake up int he morning is where they should head when it's bedtime, and they'll soon enough learn to put *themselves* to bed.

An alternative, in theory, would be to let them sleep outdoors but replace your run fencing with 1/4" hardwarecloth; but I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS because it is just "chumming for predators" and I guaranteee you that eventually (probably soonish) something will figure out how to defeat the fence and have a chicken dinner.

Shutting them in a securely built, well-ventilated coop is by far the safest nighttime arrangement.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[tracylhl]

Thank you to those of you who were kind and helpful with your answers.

 

[joletabey]

Tracylhl,

Ask all the questions you need to. . . .I have been asking and reading and learning. . . .got a coop but still haven't gotten the run going, or I would probably be asking MORE questions. The people here are really helpful, they really are!
Good luck!

 

[LittleMamaBigPapa]

Quote:
I'm sure everyone on here has good intentions.

I would add Hardware cloth two feet up around the entire base of your run. Let your chickens sleep where they are happy, but also safe!

Best to you!!

 

[ducks4you]

I'm with all of them! You train your animals by repetition. Then, they do those things involuntarily. Once they "learn" to go inside at night, they'll continue to do so. It will become 2nd nature to them. Especially, for the NEXT birds that you add to the flock later on. They will follow the older, leader birds, and you WON'T have to train them.

joletabey, i read your sig---I GOT all of them's, too!!