This topic has been on my mind over the past few days!
Would chickens be ok with being cooped up for a day or two. Many chicken owners have those days were they just couldn’t let their chickens out and they were freaking out because they thought something bad was going to happen to their birds. But this question can be easily solved by the type of coop an owner has.
If you haven’t already noticed (you soon will) that chickens usually stay in their coop when it is raining pretty hard outside. Like a human, why would they want to get wet?.
The real question is, is it safe to not let your chickens out of the coop? The answer is yes. As long as your coop has a little bit of light, space, food and water then you are all set!
Should Chickens Stay In The Coop All Day & Night?!?
If your coop has enough space for your chickens to move around, eat and drink and have enough light into it then your chickens will have EVERYTHING they need.
The recommended size you should have for your chickens is about 2 to 3 square feet indoors per chicken you living in there. Everyone exceeds the chicken limit they should have in their coop and that is ok, especially if it is in the summer. During the summer, your chickens SHOULD be outside roaming around your around yard.
Chickens will start getting bored if they are left in the coop for too many days. Boredom eventually leads to feather picking, squabbles (noisy altercation), bullying, pecking each other and worse behaviors as time goes on. To try and prevent this behavior, you could hang treats in the coop or keep them busy in other ways.
In most case scenarios, your coop should have a covered “run” where your chickens can be outside, increasing their space to roam without being in your yard. Also, connected to your run you should have a door that opens, allowing the chickens to get out and roam. BUT keep in mind the predators that will come along when your chickens are digging around for bugs. From personal issues, hawks LOVE to eat chickens as much as humans do!
During the winter time having water outside in the run can add moisture in the air, helping your chickens breath. Plus, if something gets knocked over in the coop then they have another source of water to go drink from.
When either adding water or food to the run can attract many predators, such as racoons or foxes in your area. You have to keep that in mind wherever you live and where you are keeping your chickens coop.
When coops have windows and other ways to allow light in you do not have to let your chickens out right at dawn. In most cases, my mom lets out the chickens around 6 every morning to feed them and give them more water, but that does NOT mean you have too! Other people think that chickens can wake up on their own time and eat breakfast on their own.
Dawn should ideally be the earliest you let your chickens out and you should wait until their is a full amount of sunlight out to avoid predators coming around and deciding which chicken is next.
Chickens enjoy being outside, roaming around, sun bathing and eating bugs. So, if you either forget or are running late, no big deal! One day inside will do no harm if you have the right resources for your chickens.
