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Perhaps someone who free-ranges could answer this question. I don't free-range but my chickens have 2700 square feet of secure run space. I had two doors into my run for a different reason, and ended up permanently closing one to minimize door breach mistakes.Well in terms of questions, I have a question about how many exits a "run" should have.
I've setup the beginnings of a 10x20 run and I'm in the process of converting a tiny building next to the run into a coop. I am planning to add a lot of predator protections to the run and the coop, and also an automatic chicken door between the two.
My question is: should the run have exits at both ends, if I want the birds to be able to free-range at times?
One of my fears is that the chickens could be inside the run, happily resting or eating, when a predator comes to a single open door in the run, enters inside, and then corners the birds inside the run, with no possibility of escape. In war movies, I think this is called setting up a "kill zone", a narrow space that your enemy cannot escape from or retreat from.
Currently when I let the birds into or out of the run, I always close and latch the door behind them. I just want things to be more automatic.
Does my question make sense?