Keeping hens in their house at night?

[eggcentric]

Hello everyone. I've seen this subject mentioned a few times and have seen and heard quite different opinions - should hens be kept in their house at night with the door shut? We have an Eglu Cube for our six hens. The Cube is elevated off the ground with steps up, and it can be locked at night. It has a ventilation grill at the back. We have an enclosed and covered run which is about 5 meters by 2 meters and is pretty secure.
Just wondering what others do, particularly the veterans who've learnt from experience We're interested in doing the right thing for our hens.

 

[Marigold]

Hi eggcentric, that’s a good question.
The main, important reason in favour of shutting chickens up at night is to keep them secure from predators, mainly foxes.
There are no other good reasons for closing the pophole, and several reasons why it’s best not to do so, assuming the coop is within a secure run (ie, with weldmesh sides fixed below ground level, and a solid or weldmesh roof.)

1) Chickens don't need to be kept warm at night. They do need to be waterproof, and they like to be protected from strong winds so it’s good to face the pophole away from the prevailing wind direction, but they are extremely well insulated, like walking duvets, and are much more likely to be distressed by heat than by cold. Even on cold winter nights, full ventilation is essential, partly to avoid the change of temperature when they step out from a closed coop heated by their bodies, into an open run several degrees colder. It would be like you getting out of bed and going out without your coat on. So closing the coop to keep them warm is the wrong thing to do, especially on hot nights in summer when they want to be up and out at dawn, by 5.00 at the moment.

2) Chickens need as much ventilation as possible in the coop. If they are shut up in close confinement all night, breathing each others’ exhaled air, they are very likely to develop bronchial diseases and pass them on to each other. If they go to roost with damp feathers, into a closed coop, there will be condensation in the coop and humid air, which will make bacterial or viral transmission even more likely.
I have looked after a friend’s hens in an Omlet Cube, and I don’t think the ventilation is adequate with the door closed.

3)If you are sure that your run is secure against foxes, you will save yourself a lot of trouble if you can just leave them to go to roost and get up in their own time. In winter they would need shutting up by 3.30p.m, and in summer they would need letting out by 5.00 a.m. And if you go away and someone else is looking after them it makes things easier for them as well. Many fox attacks happen in the daytime, or at dusk before the hens go to roost, so if the run isn’t secure at all times, not just overnight, your birds are at risk. Read some of the stories in the Pests and Predators section, where foxes have taken birds in full daylight, when the owner was out in the garden with them. If you’re happy that the run is safe, it’s good to let them follow their own natural rhythms and roost when they’re ready,

4) It’s good to give your birds a choice where to roost, if possible. In the wild they would roost high up in a tree. If you have a walk-in run and can provide a high perch, you may find they choose this instead of going in the coop at all, except to lay eggs. My present hens always choose to roost on a high perch, up in the open air, right through the winter, although in a covered and sheltered end of the covered run, out of rain and wind but with one inward-facing open side. It’s much easier to pick up droppings under the perch and the coop stays clean all the time. See pic below.

Previous hens did use the coop before I provided the high perch, but I never ever shut the pophole. I’ve kept hens for nearly 40 years and none of them have ever suffered from any kind of bronchial infection, which I think is evidence for proper ventilation in the coop overnight.

 

[Marigold]

P.S.There was a long thread about this, ten years ago! You might be interested.

http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5388

 

[eggcentric]

Marigold, many thanks for posting this extensive reply, and in light of your decades of experience, it is very helpful. All you've written makes sense to me, and I think it would be a good idea to leave the pophole open especially through the summer. I'm confident enough to believe we have a run that's secure from fox attacks. We also have reasonable protection from weather, in a sheltered corner of our garden. I believe you're in the south, whereas we are in Birmingham which is at quite high altitude and can be a lot colder in the winter. So may be worth reviewing when we get towards the end of the year. But definitely worth going with this advice. I'll check out the other thread. Thank you.