Best thing I ever did…

[Farmin Armen]

Outside of convincing wifey to allow me to start raising chickens (and being blessed to have married her), installing an automatic coop door was the best thing that I did for me and those fully hens.

I used to set my alarm early for morning chores, mostly dictated by letting the hens out just before the crack of dawn and locking up the coop door at night. Sometimes I’d forget, especially in the evenings. We have coyotes, raccoons, rats, bears, squirrels, I mean, it’s a zoo out there. So, after some research I first purchased an automatic chicken coop door off of Amazon. Looked nice, but not practical. Also, i wasn’t convinced about the build quality to withstand even the simple elements that occur within a coop and run. I looked on the threads online and found one or two simply mentioning Ador1. Long story short, this one was a keeper. Albeit it is pricey.



I got what I paid for and being able to sleep in and not having to worry about locking up in the evenings are worth 100x the price.

This is not a paid sponsorship. The reason I’m posting is because this morning I looked out and saw my hens happy and out in the run while drinking my coffee.

 

[DobieLover]

I used to set my alarm early for morning chores

You have to set an alarm? It's impossible for me to sleep past dawn. I snap awake between 5 and 5:15 nearly every morning regardless when I go to bed. I've adopted chicken hours!

 

[Farmin Armen]

You have to set an alarm? It's impossible for me to sleep past dawn. I snap awake between 5 and 5:15 nearly every morning regardless when I go to bed. I've adopted chicken hours!

I wouldn't mind if I could snap awake around 5am-ish. Would it help to say that I work full time, and have several kids ages 7 and under and that a "full night's uninterrupted rest" is foreign to me? I take full advantage of the benefits of not needing to wake up to let the hens out.

 

[mowin]

My 3 dogs are worse than my rooster. They get me up every morning before daylight to let them out. My coops and runs are 99% predator proof. A bear is the only thing getting in there, so I no longer close my pop door. If it's going to be well below zero with high winds, I'll close them up.

 

[Farmin Armen]

My 3 dogs are worse than my rooster. They get me up every morning before daylight to let them out. My coops and runs are 99% predator proof. A bear is the only thing getting in there, so I no longer close my pop door. If it's going to be well below zero with high winds, I'll close them up.

See, that’s the thing. The coop is predator proof minus the bear. My hardware cloth on the side walls and cattle cloth on the roof (both regarding my run) are not nailed, but stapled with heavy duty staples. I stapled every few squares. Seemed quite quick.

Also, I really wish I could get up before Dawn. That is nice that your pups get you up. I like the quiet in the mornings when everyone is still asleep and it’s me, my coffee and Aussie. At this point I find it easy to sleep at 930-10pm and hard to wake up at 6-630. I’m only in my mid thirties and it’s slightly embarrassing. Lol

 

[mowin]

See, that’s the thing. The coop is predator proof minus the bear. My hardware cloth on the side walls and cattle cloth on the roof (both regarding my run) are not nailed, but stapled with heavy duty staples. I stapled every few squares. Seemed quite quick.

Also, I really wish I could get up before Dawn. That is nice that your pups get you up. I like the quiet in the mornings when everyone is still asleep and it’s me, my coffee and Aussie. At this point I find it easy to sleep at 930-10pm and hard to wake up at 6-630. I’m only in my mid thirties and it’s slightly embarrassing. Lol

I wish I could sleep in till 8AM, and I wouldn't be embarrassed at all about it, lol.

My coops are inside my large fenced in yard. The dogs patrol it frequently, and I think just there smell keeps the bears away. They have no problem raiding my dumpster though.

 

[Farmin Armen]

The dogs patrol it frequently, and I think just there smell keeps the bears away. They

That’s hilarious! What a deterrent!

 

[drdoct]

I wish I could sleep in till 8AM, and I wouldn't be embarrassed at all about it, lol.

My coops are inside my large fenced in yard. The dogs patrol it frequently, and I think just there smell keeps the bears away. They have no problem raiding my dumpster though.

We don't have bears, but I have a neighbor who has put up like 4 different kennels in their yard (so they're double fenced) with barking dogs. Then the other neighbor has a German Shepherd and a Pitbull who alternate being outside because they don't like each other. They bark all the time as well. And I have a dog who has a wireless fence and I don't let her carry on like the neighbors. All those dogs keep a lot of the coons and foxes away.

On a neighborly note... When one of our sexed chicks turned out to be a rooster, I didn't have any remorse for my neighbors. I looked at my wife and said... you got a kennel, well we'll raise you a Rooster! Now I just smile because even though I didn't want a rooster at first, he's really the best for our flock.

 

[aart]

At this point I find it easy to sleep at 930-10pm and hard to wake up at 6-630. I’m only in my mid thirties and it’s slightly embarrassing. Lol

Enjoy it while you can.

I like the quiet in the mornings when everyone is still asleep and it’s me, my coffee and Aussie.

Tho, I get this part too.