Should I lock up my run?

[AAWalkie]

After 9 months of manually opening and closing my chicken coop and run I have purchased an automatic door. I let my girls free range our fenced backyard and am wondering if I need to lock up the run at night. The automatic door should keep them safe in the coop but I am concerned about making it easier for predators to get to the coop and if their unprotected chicken feed is going to attract attention. I am in the center of a small college town so our predators are raccoons, rats, and opossums. Is it okay to leave the run open all night?

 

[chickenweirdo1]

Animals like rats, raccoon's and possums can give your chickens diseases. Especially by touching their food and then the chickens eating it. So i would close it.

 

[Birdydeb]

I would close it too. My run isn't locked but it is definitely closed. Unprotected feed in the run? You have been luckier than me(of course I am out in the country) because i am going to have to remove feed from my run...the rats have had a field day. As soon as I quit procrastinating I am going to set aside a whole day to fix all the damage they have done and remove the feeders...which had tops on them and had a wire over the bottom that SUPPOSEDLY chickens couldn't scratch out of....but they did. Feed is gonna attract rats.

Edited to add: I now carry feed down every morning. Feeders are empty.