Dusk Coop Door Closing Time

[Living_Legend]

I did a test. Dusk is 7:48pm. My automatic door closed at 7:33pm. Two days in a row it thought dusk is 15 minutes earlier than it is. The door with a light sensor is inside the coop so I'm not blaming the sensor there are windows but I think it's pretty darn accurate for being indoors. I believe I can make adjustments on it too close a certain amount of minutes after dusk I could be wrong I need to look at the paperwork again otherwise I can set a specific time.

Question let's pretend dusk is at 7:48 p.m. where you live tonight what time will your chickens go back into the coop? Estimates are fine. Thank you!

 

[cholland]

Accordingly to weather underground, in my location sunset is 7:13 and civil twilight is 7:42.
My chickens went inside at about 7:25.
My door is on a timer and will close at 7:30. Probably going to adjust that to at least 7:45 or later tomorrow.

 

[jthornton]

Dusk is 7:41 here tonight and the pullets are usually in about 15 minutes before the door closes. You might think about adding a delay timer to the door for closing.

JT

 

[Living_Legend]

Ok so dawn is at 6:38am and the door didn't open this morning till 7:12am.

Maybe being inside the coop makes a big difference but I want to keep the manual door on the outside of the coop too to have that backup option. Looks like I might be using the timer function for piece of mind. Like today I would have it open at 7am and close at 8pm.

Just in testing. Don't get first chicks till April 6th

 

[jthornton]

Kudos for working all this out before you get the chickens.

That should be fine for opening. I'm setup for extra light in the morning so the lights come on and the door to the run opens 13 1/2 hours before sunset. It usually takes them a few minutes to wake up and head out.

JT

 

[Living_Legend]

Kudos for working all this out before you get the chickens.

That should be fine for opening. I'm setup for extra light in the morning so the lights come on and the door to the run opens 13 1/2 hours before sunset. It usually takes them a few minutes to wake up and head out.

JT

So you are thinking I should leave Openning and just add time to closing? Thanks for your help.

 

[jthornton]

Yes, the closing time is important that they have enough time to get on the roost. As it gets darker they start looking for a place to roost before dusk.

JT

 

[jthornton]

It was funny to watch mine run around looking for a high spot to roost until they got used to the coop. Now they just file in and hop on the roost.

JT

 

[squadleader]

It always worries me when I see it mentioned that someone's had a predator attack just after dawn and during dusk.

For that reason I don't feel bad at all about putting a delay on opening, maybe an hour after dawn, because the risk reward ratio is so good.

Mine free range, and it doesn't matter if they have an extra hour in the chicken tractor in the morning, and it does protect them from any predator still lurking in the early morning mist.

So I'm not at all concerned about the morning opening time.

Evening is more critical though. You've got a dance between getting them in before an evening predator becomes active, when they volunteerly reenter the tractor, and when the door automatically closes.

I think any real worry boils down to are they going to come back in, and the door close, before an evening predator is likely to become active. That's really the only reason we even lock them up.

I've got a automatic Pullet Shut door I haven't installed yet. I'm wondering if those using automatic doors feel like it's darker than they would like, when the birds finally come in on there own, and the door has automatically closed.

Do you feel it's happening before there's a real predator risk?

 

[Cindy in PA]

My chickens must be weird. My door opens at sunrise & closes at sunset. Sunset is around 7:15 pm now & the chickens are in & on the roost by shortly after 6.