Should I Close The Door At Night?

Awestruck

Songster
11 Years
May 15, 2012
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88
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I have my girls in a coop that has two doors. One can stay shut except when I have to clean inside or change the water bowl. That door leads to the outside. The other door opens up to the inside of the run. The run is pretty secure and has a barrier dug underneath it (about 18") to keep animals from digging a hole to get inside the run. We keep the doors to the run closed (unless we are letting the chickens out). When I am not home, the chickens stay inside the run. They can also get back inside the coop because the door is open.
My question is, is it possible to leave the door open that enters the run, at night? I like the idea of shutting the door of the coop, because I think that the chickens feel safer with their door closed. But we are going to be gone for a week, and I won't have anyone to open the door to the coop in the early morning while we are gone. It looks like my only option is to leave the coop door open. I have someone checking in on the chickens during the day though.
Will it be safe to leave this door open? The chickens will come out in the run, but they will not be able to escape the run (unless someone forgets to lock the door!).
I hope my question makes sense. I need to find an answer or some alternatives.
 
If you are confident that your run is secure, then sure. I do precisely that as a matter of course.
 
I have my free range run secured 360, so now that it's hot I leave their coop door open just enough for them to get out and they can wake up early and start scratching around, it's pretty safe,

The key in my opinion is if you feel your run is safe enough to leave it open, I leave mine open
 
How does an automatic coop door work? I had heard of this but can't imagine how I could get one installed or how it works.
Search automatic coop door on here. There's a lot of threads showing manufactured products and some members homemade setups. Personally I like the old power antenna of a old card with a timer but I haven't installed it yet.
 

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