HELP! Chicken Coop/Chicken Run too small?!

[tracecom]

Question: If were both at work 8hrs a day, Do you think its safe to have the pop door open and allow the chickens to roam in the run when we're not at home to keep an eye on them?

My pop door is opened every morning, and the chickens are free to go out to the run and back as they choose. They have no supervision during the day, and really enjoy the freedom to go in and out of the coop as they wish. I think the activity of going in and out is entertaining for them.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

We both work 8 hour days and our commute is 34 miles one way. Our birds are in their run the whole time we are away, only getting to free range from around 5:30 pm to dusk which is when we put them in for the night. Fencing needs to be strong enough to keep the largest predators out. Since we do have coyotes and feral dog packs running around, we went with the same fencing we use to keep the deer away from our orchard and crops then added the chicken wire along the bottom edge. If I were to do our run again, I would most likely use the same fence wire for the top but the one foot squares made by the single wires seems to do alright so far.

I have a friend in Australia that built his run with a full fence lid since he has lots of predators that would love a chook dinner.