Smart Chicken Coop Survey

mlerose28

In the Brooder
Sep 17, 2019
2
11
21
Hello! I am doing a year long engineering project involving the improvement of the chicken coop. If anyone would be willing to fill out my survey to allow for data collection, that would be a tremendous help. Thanks in advance! Here is the survey:https://forms.gle/9MEq9SgSevevMSHF6

(If you do not want to fill out the whole survey and just want to write about what you wish was different about your chicken coop just add to the thread)
 
I have no need to 'smarten' my coop.....
...people need to be more hands on, not less.
SMH.:old
It really depends on the target audience. Some people don't have time for that. I've noticed that a lot of BYC members are retired, but some of us work full time and need smart solutions. It's often a decision between having a smart coop/garden/whatever, or not having one at all. I have a "smart" garden that mostly takes care of itself, and my family can enjoy fresh produce with minimal effort. That's how I'm designing my chicken coop, too. Smart design can make a huge difference and allow people to have something that would otherwise have been out of reach. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE hands-on and being outside all day, but at this point in my life, that's just not possible. When I retire and have nothing else to do, I probably wouldn't mind doing everything manually the old-fashioned way.

@mlerose28, I'm not going to fill out the survey because I don't have chickens yet, but I'm interested in the research and the results. Is there a way to see the results without filling out the survey?
 
I recently installed an auto door because I work 7 pm to 7 am two nights a week and usually leave home before dusk. Before the auto-door, I was closing the coop around 5:00 pm and didn't get home to open it until around 7:30-8:00 am. The door works great so far. It makes life better for the chickens on the nights I work. The chickens are my thing, so I try to minimize my husband's involvement as much as possible. I still go out to the coop at least 3 times a day to check on everything. On the nights I'm home, I go out to make sure everyone made it into the coop and that the door closed as it's supposed to.

I like my coop so far. If I could have built it myself, I'd have made the legs higher so that the chickens could go underneath the coop, and perhaps I'd have put more of an overhang on the roof.
 
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I've see this at least once a year, a student who's probably never had chickens asking a bunch of ridiculous questions...makes me rather more jaded and skeptical than usual. ;)
Tho I must admit these questions are a bit better than previous ones I've seen, but still don't address the issues of space. They ask what 'kind' of coop, but not how big it is...and how are you going to automate the cleaning process? SMH.
'Smarter' would be to design your coop to avoid any issues and reduce your chore times.

But still, IMO, the 'smart' movement is mostly gratuitous tech applications, peeves me to see everything with a 'smart' component that ups the cost of purchase and repairs and the risk of failures. Yup, retired and creaky old luddite here :old!

I've noticed that a lot of BYC members are retired, but some of us work full time and need smart solutions.
That's true...and I can understand having cams(lots of them for full coverage) and remote 'auto' door controls....but you'd need have a 'smart' person onsite to take care of any serious issues you see over your screen...like predators, a dumped waterer, an injured bird.


I have a "smart" garden that mostly takes care of itself, and my family can enjoy fresh produce with minimal effort.
A garden is one thing, but live animals quite another.

Am curious tho, what does your 'smart' garden do?
 
Am curious tho, what does your 'smart' garden do?
It has an underground soaker hose irrigation system, which is hooked up to a timer, which is hooked up to a wireless moisture sensor in the soil. So it takes care of all the watering for me in an efficient way. If it has been raining, the water doesn’t turn on, to save on water expenses. If it gets dry, the timer turns on and waters on a schedule. I also have several watering zones depending on the needs of different plants. I have self-watering trays for seedlings that can go 2 weeks until they need to be refilled, so no dried out seedlings in the spring. Grow lights on timers, various supports, nets and cages in the garden so plants can climb and lean without needing me to redirect or tie them up. That kind of thing. Saves me a LOT of garden chore time and makes gardening feasible with my schedule.

I’m suspicious of digital “smart” tools, too. Most of them are gimmicks suffering from unnecessary feature bloat. But I’m a big fan of being smart about designing and setting up to reduce chore time, to make room for the things that actually matter - eating tasty produce or spending quality time bonding with the chickens, instead of blowing my scarce time on automatable manual labor.
 
It has an underground soaker hose irrigation system, which is hooked up to a timer, which is hooked up to a wireless moisture sensor in the soil. So it takes care of all the watering for me in an efficient way. If it has been raining, the water doesn’t turn on, to save on water expenses. If it gets dry, the timer turns on and waters on a schedule. I also have several watering zones depending on the needs of different plants. I have self-watering trays for seedlings that can go 2 weeks until they need to be refilled, so no dried out seedlings in the spring. Grow lights on timers, various supports, nets and cages in the garden so plants can climb and lean without needing me to redirect or tie them up. That kind of thing. Saves me a LOT of garden chore time and makes gardening feasible with my schedule.

I’m suspicious of digital “smart” tools, too. Most of them are gimmicks suffering from unnecessary feature bloat. But I’m a big fan of being smart about designing and setting up to reduce chore time, to make room for the things that actually matter - eating tasty produce or spending quality time bonding with the chickens, instead of blowing my scarce time on automatable manual labor.
Watering system for garden sounds great..and not a new technology, except for the devices controlling it.
Not sure how it helps leaning of plants, unless it raises the light fixture?

Really not sure how automated chicken stuff will save you time tho.
 

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