Auto Door on Coop or Run?

[WBBulldogs]

Hi All,
I am new to this thing and have started building my coop and integrated run. I plan to have 3-5 chickens. I was going to put in a automatic pop door but was wondering if I should put one on the coop itself and leave the run open or put one on the run and leave the coop open? I wasn't sure what the normal configuration is? I guess an alternate would be to leave the run closed and have the pop door open to their small run until I open it. I have the coop in an enclosed backyard with 6ft fences. I want to free range them a bit in the yard so a pop door on the run would be nice. I am just paranoid for their safety. The only thing I am worried about is raccoons as I've seen them in my driveway and front yard. Never on my fence or backyard but who knows?

 

[50-45-1]

I would put the auto door on the coop and only let the chickens range on the yard when you are at home.
If you put up a trail camera up in your enclosed yard you might be suprised what is using it.
Everything eats chicken.
Welcome to backyard chickens!

 

[TooCheep]

Welcome by BYC! Where are you located? Please put that info here to make answering future questions easier.

I'd be surprised if your only predator is raccoons. Pretty much anywhere that has raccoons (most active at night) also has hawks (predators by day) and oppossums. Dogs, snakes and rats are also possible problems.

The general setup if using an automatic door is to have it on the coop. That way, if something gets into the run area which is generally much larger and not as well defended, then they can't easily get into the coop where the birds are sleeping and easy to slaughter.

An automatic door on the run to allow free ranging is possible, but I think it's utility is doubtful. First of all, unsupervised free ranging makes chickens vulnerable to daytime predators- hawks and the like. People who do free ranging are accepting that risk whether they know it or not.

Chickens learn to enter a protected coop before it gets dark and their coop door closes. In the infrequent cases where chickens don't enter the coop in time, they still are somewhat protected by the outer run defenses for the night. How will you train chickens to reenter the run before it closes automatically? If they don't reenter, then they are entirely on their own for the night with minimal defense.

 

[WBBulldogs]

I had my suspicions. I will plan to keep the run fully secured and locked and only coop auto door when I do get around to adding it. That's a good idea I might have to look at some sort of trail camera to see predators. I hope I don't have crazy predators in my backyard as I usually leave my cat door open as he enters and leaves from the back door all the time.

 

[imnukensc]

My ADOR1 auto door is on the run. I free range daily on a couple of acres surrounded by woods. It keeps me from having to make two trips daily to let them out and to close it up at night. Plenty of predators around here. I understand the perils of free ranging quite well, but the benefits to me and the chickens far outweigh them IMO.

 

[DobieLover]

I had my suspicions. I will plan to keep the run fully secured and locked and only coop auto door when I do get around to adding it. That's a good idea I might have to look at some sort of trail camera to see predators. I hope I don't have crazy predators in my backyard as I usually leave my cat door open as he enters and leaves from the back door all the time.

If your run is fully secured, why would you lock them into the coop? I never close my coop pop door. When I feed in the morning, I open the door to the run so they can access their 1/4 acre pen for the day. It is secure from ground predators with electro-netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger.
The chickens are on their own as far as the hawks go but they have a lot of great cover and a vigilant rooster who sounds the alarm when he sees any large bird fly over. Someday I will likely lose a bird to a hawk as I see hawks all the time but they've never been attacked in over a year.

 

[DobieLover]

the benefits to me and the chickens far outweigh them IMO

I couldn't agree more and I bet the chickens do too! I've always said that it is better to have a short happy life than a long unhappy one. My birds love to be out in their pen eating greens and scaring up bugs... and frogs and whatever other little critter that is foolish enough to wander into their pen.
You have a nice setup. It is similar to mine but without the pen so yours get to free range.