open door at night?

[arundel]

I have made a coop inside an old shed, directly connected to an outdoor run about 8 x10 ft. Wire ground cloth is dug down 10" to 12" all around it and built higher with 1/2", including over the top. The roof vents in the shed are covered in wire as well. The food and water are hung outside I am fairly confident that my chicks are safe from predators, but do worry about mice getting in for their food - and exploring the coop as well even though there is no food in there. (I have just spent 40 minutes trying to get photos on my phone transferred to my computer, unsuccessfully, so I hope my description suffices). There is a foot-square door from the coop into the run. I have been opening it each morning and closing it at night. Several times I have been out to say goodnight to my 4 RIRs and forgotten to close the door. My question is: given how the coop & run is constructed, can I actually just leave it open? This morning I slept in about an hour after daybreak, and my birds were quite bent out of shape, stumbling over each other in their haste to get to the food.

 

[Jenessa_096]

I leave my coop door open, especially during the summer because it is hot and I have minimum space for my birds. As long as they have a really secure run, I say go for it, even though it could still be a risk.

 

[arundel]

I leave my coop door open, especially during the summer because it is hot and I have minimum space for my birds. As long as they have a really secure run, I say go for it, even though it could still be a risk.

Thanks, I'll review the security situation again.

 

[Jenessa_096]

Thanks, I'll review the security situation again.

Your welcome!

 

[WIchickMama]

I don't leave mine open, but I am a chicken

 

[Sally PB]

I have faith in the security of my run. I have more faith in the security of my coop. The chickens are shut in at night and I can sleep, knowing they're as safe as we can make them.

 

[3KillerBs]

If the door leads into a secure, fully-enclosed run, you can leave the door open so that the birds can get themselves up and put themselves to bed.

 

[Outta Here]

My outdoor 4'x18' outdoor run is covered with 1/4" wire mesh with a 3' skirt of 1/4" wire mesh buried. Nothing bigger than 1/4" can get in. The inside roosting/nest box coop which they access through a small door, is even more secure because it's built the same but on concrete inside the barn.
I live in the middle of a coyote-filled desert and never let my chickens free range unless the 120 lb German Shepherd is on guard. He alerts on a coyote almost every day, often chasing one. But I have no fears about their security when they are locked into the coop. I have left the dividing door between interior coop and exterior coop open for six months. Now of course, I'm a fanatic about double checking the exterior door!!!!! It actually has a padlock and I even remove the key!
Sometimes I would like to open our garage doors for ventilation overnight, but though no coyote could get at the chickens, I'm afraid a coyote trying would cause them to hurt themselves in the panic. For this reason I also taught them to only sleep in the inside coop. Some did sleep a few times on the outside run's roost, but I was pretty nervous, despite the motion detector alarm. Not that anything could get them, but that something pacing outside trying could panic them.

 

[arundel]

My outdoor 4'x18' outdoor run is covered with 1/4" wire mesh with a 3' skirt of 1/4" wire mesh buried. Nothing bigger than 1/4" can get in. The inside roosting/nest box coop which they access through a small door, is even more secure because it's built the same but on concrete inside the barn.
I live in the middle of a coyote-filled desert and never let my chickens free range unless the 120 lb German Shepherd is on guard. He alerts on a coyote almost every day, often chasing one. But I have no fears about their security when they are locked into the coop. I have left the dividing door between interior coop and exterior coop open for six months. Now, of course, I'm a fanatic about double checking the exterior door!!!!! It actually has a padlock and I even remove the key!
Sometimes I would like to open our garage doors for ventilation overnight, but though no coyote could get at the chickens, I'm afraid a coyote trying would cause them to hurt themselves in the panic. For this reason I also taught them to only sleep in the inside coop.

Thanks for this. I'm going to work on smaller mesh over one corner, but generally I think it's secure. Here, we have racoons and inner-city rats. I do let mine free run in my small yard but only when I am home so I'd be alerted to cries of panic. Anecdotally, my cat hangs out with them and they don't bother with her. I was really worried at first but she got locked in their run one day and at dusk I wondered why they weren't going inside the coop, and there was my cat, calmly sitting in the doorway facing the 4 hens calmly sitting at the other end of the run. I did have to move her so they'd go inside.

 

[Outta Here]

Thanks for this. I'm going to work on smaller mesh over one corner, but generally I think it's secure. Here, we have racoons and inner-city rats. I do let mine free run in my small yard but only when I am home so I'd be alerted to cries of panic. Anecdotally, my cat hangs out with them and they don't bother with her. I was really worried at first but she got locked in their run one day and at dusk I wondered why they weren't going inside the coop, and there was my cat, calmly sitting in the doorway facing the 4 hens calmly sitting at the other end of the run. I did have to move her so they'd go inside.

My 5 lb poodle does the same--goes into the coop for a look see, which offends all the chickens!