Fences for chicken or not?

I started with all my chicken fenced in. The fox still entered, but maybe I could have locked the fox out by locking the gate. I love watching the birds walk freely, they are so entertaining to observe + I like surprises that might occur. So, if I have the wild foxes challenge, I might unlock the coop gate while my sim is near by, and lock it for anyone but my sim during night hours or if I get busy elsewhere. Fact is I tuned off the wild foxes challenge ion most of my lots, I loved the suspense it added, but it took too much of my focus only looking out for a fox. So, I use that challenge on a few lots mainly without a coop :) My chicks are fine and I get to see the fox occasionally on my rotation :)