Open coop?

[MrBockBahhk]

Does anyone leave their coop open 24 hrs a day? I've been closing em in about 7pm or whenever they go in to roost. I let them out about 2pm and spread scratch around to pick at for the evening. It is winter here and not light out for too long. They'll be out longer in summer but I'm just wondering what most people's normal practices are?

 

[Bullitt]

Does anyone leave their coop open 24 hrs a day? I've been closing em in about 7pm or whenever they go in to roost. I let them out about 2pm and spread scratch around to pick at for the evening. It is winter here and not light out for too long. They'll be out longer in summer but I'm just wondering what most people's normal practices are?

Do you have a coop and run that can keep the chickens in and predators out? Or do you just have a coop that opens to free range?

There are different ways of doing it. I think most people let their chickens out of the coop in the morning and close them up in the coop in the evening.

 

[KentuckyMom]

My chickens are in an open run during daylight hours. I shut them up in their coop at night. They are not very enthusiastic about being shut in at 5:30 PM but when darkness falls too many predators prowl!

 

[Bullitt]

A hawk could get in the run and kill a chicken, it seems.

Why do you let them out of the coop at 2 p.m.? Why not earlier?

 

[KentuckyMom]

My chickens have access to their coop even when they are in their run, but I don't shut them in until dark. I have heard hawks but have not seen them near the run...yet. This has been our first year with chickens and we are making do with what we have available at the moment. My husband already has an idea for a more covered, sheltered run between an old shed and our garage. This is definitely a work in progress....

 

[Alaskan]

I kept loosing chickens, even in the daytime.

So......I now have a run that is very close to fort knox. The result is that I never have to lock them up, they are always safe.

Before, I would unlock the coop door in the morning (maybe 8am) and then lock them up when it got dark.

Mine are awake and running around even when it is still dark.

 

[erinchelsea]

We leave ours open, but we also have electric net fencing all around the coop. It has worked so far. (Got the fencing this spring and haven't lost one since, before we would lose them occasionally.)

 

[MrBockBahhk]

I let them out about 2pm because I tend to go to work at 3-4 am and it seems a little early for them to be out making noise lol I may start letting them out when I leave for work though. Seems to be my best bet

 

[Bullitt]

I let them out about 2pm because I tend to go to work at 3-4 am and it seems a little early for them to be out making noise lol I may start letting them out when I leave for work though. Seems to be my best bet

I think you could leave your coop open if you had chicken wire or netting covering the top of your run. Then you wouldn't have much chance of a predator getting to your chickens.

Wow, you go to work early in the morning.

 

[donrae]

I don't actually have a door between the coop and the run, just an opening in the coop wall. So, my girls decide where to go. Rain, shine, wind, mud, cold, whatever. Then again, I'm not concerned about predators. IMO there's no other reason to routinely confine birds to a coop.