Automatic coop door: how do chickens know when to return to the coop?

[Devorah]

After all my research about automatic coop doors, I just realized that I don’t understand how chickens know when to return to the coop at night! This may seem like quite a silly question, but honestly, I don’t get it. If it’s a warm summer night and “the living is easy,” what incentive do they have to walk through that door before it closes?

Thanks for your replies.

 

[-Isla June-]

There have been some times when a chicken has died because it was stuck, that’s why I have never had one. But there is normally a light sensor or time sensor. The light sensor measures how dark it is. Chickens are normally all in by the time the sun goes dow, which is when the door closes. Or, if you know about when your sun goes down then the time sensor will close at let’s say 7. Chickens get the routine quite fast, and are smart enough to learn the pattern quickly. Chickens most likely will not get stuck, but it had happened once or twice.

 

[Devorah]

There have been some times when a chicken has died because it was stuck, that’s why I have never had one. But there is normally a light sensor or time sensor. The light sensor measures how dark it is. Chickens are normally all in by the time the sun goes dow, which is when the door closes. Or, if you know about when your sun goes down then the time sensor will close at let’s say 7. Chickens get the routine quite fast, and are smart enough to learn the pattern quickly. Chickens most likely will not get stuck, but it had happened once or twice.

Thanks. That is exactly where I was headed with the question: how do I know when to program the door to close since I don’t understand what prompts a chicken to return inside the coop.

 

[RojoMarz]

The Ador comes preprogrammed. Somehow my chickens know when to go into the coop and in two years of auto door usage, I've had 1 chicken get shut out of the coop, 1 time.

I go out to the coop, after dusk to remove the food and water from the run. While out there, I count too make sure all are inside, even with the auto door in use.

 

[Devorah]

The Ador comes preprogrammed. Somehow my chickens know when to go into the coop and in two years of auto door usage, I've had 1 chicken get shut out of the coop, 1 time.

I go out to the coop, after dusk to remove the food and water from the run. While out there, I count too make sure all are inside, even with the auto door in use

Are they returning to the coop from free-ranging?

 

[RojoMarz]

Are they returning to the coop from free-ranging?

I no longer free range, but yes, when I did, they returned.

 

[NatJ]

After all my research about automatic coop doors, I just realized that I don’t understand how chickens know when to return to the coop at night! This may seem like quite a silly question, but honestly, I don’t get it. If it’s a warm summer night and “the living is easy,” what incentive do they have to walk through that door before it closes?

Thanks for your replies.

Chickens usually go to bed before it gets dark in the evening.
They want to be safely on the roost before it gets too dark for them to see.

It's just a matter of setting the door to close at the right time (after the chickens go to bed).

 

[Tonyroo]

Chicken notice the light available to them as it gets darker. There programmed to know it's time to go to sleep soon, so they instinctively head for the roost.

 

[SnootyHen]

Once or twice a silly girl will miss bed check which is why I always do a final check after the door closes. But it's pretty rare and usually during the time changes because it gets dark earlier or later and confuses them. But the older girls are usually roosting an hour or more before it closes and the younger ones take their cues from them. They like to be roosting long before dark so I set it based on that.

 

[Devorah]

Chickens usually go to bed before it gets dark in the evening.
They want to be safely on the roost before it gets too dark for them to see.

It's just a matter of setting the door to close at the right time (after the chickens go to bed).

Thanks very much.