I’ve been keeping an amazing bunch of beautiful chickens in my backyard, I’ve been taking care of them and giving them food and water regularly. My chickens really did flourish and grow up but unfortunately, I lost most of them one night! I almost went crazy!
How did this happen and why? Losing my chickens after they reached this stage of maturity and prosperity was really a big loss!
Unfortunately, nothing in this life is 100% guaranteed and safe. Even the cute chickens that we love have enemies that are waiting to pounce on them and prey on them!
Therefore, being the owners of these creatures and they are our responsibility, we have to secure them and avoid dangers.
There are many predators that inspect your barn and wait for the opportunity to infiltrate the chickens and kill them, and this is often at night when the weather is darker and the sound and movement have settled, so it is a good opportunity for them to sneak into their prey.
Therefore, we had to secure the chickens all the time, especially at night. And here we have done our thorough research to bring you our top tips on protecting chickens and making them safe at night. Let’s go deeper and learn about them more clearly in the coming lines.
How To Keep Chickens Safe At Night?
Here are our top 6 tips to help keep your chicken protected at night:
- Lock The Chickens At Night
- Protection Of Chickens From Predators
- Ensures That The Chickens Get Rest
- Protection From Bad Weather
- Securing Barn And Yard Fences
- Get Rid Of Any Holes In The Yard Wire
Let’s talk more about each one of them:
Lock The Chickens At Night
Can I leave my chickens out all night? This question is frequently asked among chicken breeders. In fact, the chicken should not be left out all night. Locking chicken is one of the key factors in Securing your chickens at night!
It provides safety for your flock from predators that take advantage of the lack of movement or presence of the chicken owners and sneak in to attack the chickens at night to pounce on them without anyone noticing them.
Where chicken owners often provide dinner to their chickens, then leave, and do not check them again until the morning to provide water and food. Which puts the chickens at great risk if they are not highly secured.
The vision of chickens is also very small and low at night, which makes it very risky if you leave them to face predators and they do not have enough ability to see or anticipate them.
You can learn more about the importance of trapping chickens at night through the following points:
Protection Of Chickens From Predators
Predators usually attack chickens at night, there are many predators that threaten chickens, such as:
1. Raccoon
The most common nocturnal predator, the raccoon is a great danger to chickens as it is so clever and resourceful that it can open doors and remove unlocked locks! They can also cut holes in chicken wire and sneak into the chicken coop by digging small holes under fences!
So locking the chickens at night is not an option given the chances of raccoons getting to them while they are left in the yard at night.
2. Coyotes
They are nocturnal predators as you would expect them to attack your chickens at night. They can attack during the day too if they are so hungry. Coyotes gather in pairs to hunt and usually beat a chicken in the neck to control it and then take it away for the chickens to eat.[1]
Roaming, open chickens, especially during dark periods such as the early dawn or early night, will make them great targets for coyotes to attack.
3. Domestic Dogs
It is a predator that threatens chickens day and night, but it is most common during the day.
Domestic dogs dig under fences and walls, as they are very skilled at it. They can also jump over fences and reach the chicken coop if the fences built around the chicken path are short so that they can cross them.
4. Mink And Opossum
A predatory animal that threatens domestic poultry around farms. They usually kill chickens by biting them through the skull or neck! Then he pulled the head and body through the opening while feeding it.
The mink can kill much more than it can eat, as it can eliminate an entire flock of chickens if given the opportunity, then the dead chickens will be in piles and begin to eat them.
Ensures That The Chickens Get Rest
Chickens need rest as badly as humans do. They are innate to be still and immortal during the night. The answer to the frequently asked question: How do you lock chickens at night? Will simply be that you don’t have to do certain things.
If you prefer a Safe, clean coop you don’t need to accustom them to entering it at night, as they will do it on their own.
You may be surprised to know that chickens need 6 to 8 hours of sleep and rest every night to maintain good health, a healthy immune system, and a regular cycle of reproduction and laying eggs!
Therefore, locking the chickens at night while providing a safe, clean, and comfortable environment will ensure that they get the rest they need.
Do not worry, as chickens usually do not drink or eat at night, so they will not lose anything when they are locked up at night, but it is just an insurance and preventive measure for them.
Protection From Bad Weather
Locking up the chickens at night protects your flock from exposure to any extreme weather conditions such as wind, rain, hail, snow, and others. Especially if this happened at the beginning of the night and the owner of the chickens did not pay attention to control the affairs of his chickens.
So the chickens will continue to suffer alone all night until you come to them in the morning and find them either sick or dead.
You shouldn’t bet that chickens can actually handle very cold temperatures as this can cause them serious health problems if they don’t have warm shelter, food, and water and are kept dry.
Securing Barn And Yard Fences
If you haven’t locked your chickens at night, you should secure the wires around your yard so that predators don’t sneak in at night.
The surest way to ensure the tightness of the yard wire is to bury the chicken wire, whether it is galvanized mesh or any other material, under a large depth of up to 12 inches around the entire yard to deter any predators from penetrating the wire, especially those who dig and make tunnels to sneak through them to the chickens.
Get Rid Of Any Holes In The Yard Wire
The chicken wire must be tightly tied around every nook and cranny of the yard to ensure that there is no opening or entry point, even a very small one.
Mice and rats because of their small size can easily sneak through any small holes or cracks in the chicken run fence. Even if there are very small holes, these tiny predators may try to tear the point wide so they can slip through.
Then they would hide under straw bedding or any heaps, then pounce on the chickens when they had the opportunity, especially at night when the chickens settled down and things were settled and there were no chicken owners.
