Chickens won't exit the coop in the morning with Automatic Door

[sixawesomehens]

Hello everyone! We installed an automatic door for our coop a few days ago and we have no issues with the hens going into the coop at night before the door closes, but in the morning, they are reluctant to exit the coop. We set the timer to open at 6:30 AM, but they don't exit the coop until about 9 AM or when they hear us in the yard. How do we train them to exit the coop when the door opens and not have them rely on us to exit the coop? Thank you!!

 

[Sahraschweiss]

Go out into the yard earlier?

 

[FortCluck]

Maybe go out there when it first opens to let them know it’s open. They might not even realize it because before they were relying on you.

Some chickens sleep in and aren’t up super early.

I would give them some time getting used to it.

 

[MarkJr]

Is their ‘normal’ time about 9am?

You could roust them about 6-630 for a week to get them on a schedule.

 

[sixawesomehens]

Before the automatic door, we used to let them out between 7-7:30 AM and they were all ready to go then. We are just trying to untrain them to rely on us being there to exit the coop.

 

[Mrs. K]

Time, you don't have to do anything, unless you want to. With a little time, they will get over it. What I think, is that it probably makes a noise, at night, they are already in the coop when it does. In the morning, it makes the noise, and they are leary of going out of it.

They'll get used to it, and really it doesn't matter if they are in the coop or not?

Mrs K

 

[MarkJr]

Is there a way to put a bell on the door so it makes noise opening?

Go out and manually open it, they associate bell with open door?

‘Simple’ chickens can be confounding

 

[sixawesomehens]

thank you so much!! we will attach a bell and hope that they figure it out! We got the automatic door so that they would have more time outside during the day and not have to rely on us to wake up and let them out. Thank you so much!!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

They'll get used to it, and really it doesn't matter if they are in the coop or not?

x2. Even after having the same auto door for the last couple of years not all my birds will come out when it opens in the morning. In summer most of them pop out early (though my chicks right now tend to stay in) but in cooler weather some of my older birds like to stay in well past when the auto door has opened.

 

[gtaus]

Lately I have been staying up too late at night and sleeping in later in the morning. I usually don't open the pop door until about 9 am, but the girls are more than ready to run out then. I think some of their eagerness in rushing outside is that I usually throw down some kitchen scraps and chicken scratch out in the run before I open the pop door and nobody wants to be the last chicken to get the treats. The good stuff goes fast.

I guess I am like the others who are not too concerned about when the chickens decide to exit the coop. I live in northern Minnesota, and I built the coop big enough to house their feed and water inside the coop 24/7. This past winter, the hens did not leave the coop to go outside for over 2 months. They just had no desire to walk out on the snow in the chicken run. Even now, in the summer, they are inside the coop at times and back outside at other times, all day long.

A couple weeks ago I went outside earlier in the morning to open the pop door and most of the chickens were still sleeping on the roost. That was maybe 7:30 am, well past sunrise, but they were still on their roosting bar. Maybe your hens are still sleeping in at 6:30 am?