Raccoon got into my coop last night, here is what I did wrong

I was up at 3am hearing a racket out back. Found a raccoon had pried open the latch on my run door in north Texas. I lost two hens before I got out there with a flashlight. My mistake was using a simple hook and eye latch, raccoons can open those easy. Swapped them out for carabiner clips with a spring lock the next morning. Anyone else have trouble with predators figuring out your coop locks?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_white2mo agoMost Upvoted

Hook and eye latches work fine if you set them right.

skylerc8624d ago

My uncle has a shed where he installed three of these latches EXACTLY like the YouTube video showed, tilted the eyes and everything, and two of them still pop open if the wind blows even a little. So I gotta disagree with @skyler_white on this one. The problem is no matter how you set them, the hook can still wiggle sideways over time, especially with wood that expands and contracts. Gravity might help some days but not when a gust hits from the wrong angle. They're fine for indoor cabinets or lightweight gates, but for anything outside or with tension, I'd pick a hasp or a spring latch every time.

karenw232mo ago

Did you see that handyman on YouTube showing how to angle the eye so gravity helps keep it shut? @skyler_white, I watched a few of his videos and it made a lot of sense, never thought about the tilt before lol.