Let animals outside coop?

[arthasbg]

Can i just keep the doors open to let them out to gain friendship? Or i have to fence them in?

[T9]

The barn doors? You can let them open. I close them at rainy days and winter

Fence- It's not mandatory. It is good if you want pigs to find truffles in a specific location or if you want to make sure that your animals find home

[NekoTiggger]

I leave the doors open (except in winter) and they come outside where i can pet them. at 5 pm they return to the inside by themselves. The door can stay open all night. They will remain indoors if it is raining. Then you can go inside to pet them.

[-Na Shagul-]

I leave the barn doors open 24/7 outside of winter, and yes its a good idea to have a dedicated fenced in field for them to lounge around in and to focus truffle production as tipsy said. The only way you can have an animal disappear from being preyed upon by wolves is if SOMEHOW they get stuck outside of the barn at night with no means of getting in, so leaving it open overnight also takes care of that concern.

[Nakos]

Ahh... leaving the doors open at night does have a potential negative.

There ARE wolves. They're a very rare event, but they will occasionally make off with a chicken if you leave the doors open (and terrify the survivors). Whether or not they'll attack the larger animals (cows, pigs, sheep, goats) I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was possible.

Your animals will go back into their designated coop/barn at about 6ish each evening. It's best to close the doors after they do.

[HoloSam]

Originally posted by Nakos:

There ARE wolves. They're a very rare event, but they will occasionally make off with a chicken if you leave the doors open

This is false. Your animals can only be attacked if one gets stuck outside. There is no negative to leaving the doors open.

[Scapegoat]

The wiki is a great resource https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Animals
The "Wild Animal Attacks" section goes further into the chances of losing an animal that's been trapped outside.

I'll also just comment in support of OrchidAlloy's comment. I have way too many hours logged onto this game, and I've never had an issue with losing animals and I only keep the barn/coop doors open during the night (save for winter-time, of course)

[Nakos]

Originally posted by OrchidAlloy:

Originally posted by Nakos:

There ARE wolves. They're a very rare event, but they will occasionally make off with a chicken if you leave the doors open

This is false. Your animals can only be attacked if one gets stuck outside. There is no negative to leaving the doors open.

I've never trapped an animal outside, but I have seen the "stressed" warning on animals when all I've done is leave the door open all night.

[-Na Shagul-]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Originally posted by OrchidAlloy:

This is false. Your animals can only be attacked if one gets stuck outside. There is no negative to leaving the doors open.

I've never trapped an animal outside, but I have seen the "stressed" warning on animals when all I've done is leave the door open all night.

it's still possible they got stuck somewhere or were otherwise unable to return to the barn somehow, either through a closed fence or some other obstacle. This is why i always do a headcount after 6pm or so just in case

[Lurlex]

I prefer to open the doors manually in the morning and close them in the evening, if only because I have a crapton of animals and I can't be bothered with tracking them down every day to give them their pets. I also have a fenced enclosure around both barn and coop just to make sure they're not wandering all over hell, because they get in the way and it's just irritating.

That's about the only reason to ever close the doors, though, to make sure that they're collected in one spot when you wake up so they're easier to interact with. You could really go through the game with no penalties leaving the doors to the barn/coop open 100% of the time, even through all of Winter. The animals all by themselves will not go outside if they don't like the weather, and they also will all by themselves go back inside in the evening.

The only way to suffer a consequence for an animal being outside is if you prematurely close a door while there's still one out and about on your farm.

[arthasbg]

So how do i raise friendship? I had my animals for 2 seasons and they didnt gain a single heart.

[¬[Antoine]¬]

Originally posted by arthasbg:

So how do i raise friendship? I had my animals for 2 seasons and they didn't gain a single heart.

You click on them, like with the cat/dog. It will show a little heart sign. Keep this up everyday and you'll gain friendship with your animals and with it better quality products.

[Ilucie]

Originally posted by OrchidAlloy:

Originally posted by Nakos:

There ARE wolves. They're a very rare event, but they will occasionally make off with a chicken if you leave the doors open

This is false. Your animals can only be attacked if one gets stuck outside. There is no negative to leaving the doors open.

I have almost 500 hours ingame and can agree to that. I never close the doors except in the winter. I never lost an animal.

[dalgo]

Originally posted by Hyena:

I have almost 500 hours ingame and can agree to that. I never close the doors except in the winter. I never lost an animal.

I agree with Hyena. I have similar game time and have never lost an animal either. I leave the doors open all year round, even in winter.

I can understand closing the doors in order to better tend to your animals but there is no danger involved in leaving them open.