Smart Chicken Coop Survey

[PirateGirl]

Work smarter, not harder. Something like that. Honestly though, if you have your setup and routine figured out chicken keeping is not difficult or time consuming. I spend as little as 10 minutes a day caring for a flock of 4 chickens and 6 ducks. Most of that time is waiting for the hose to finish filling the ducks' water bucket, but I'm generally filling the food at the same time. I could cut that back by changing my food and water setup, but I like to at least lay eyes on them once a day and see that all is well. I guess I could check on them with a camera, but that wouldn't get anything done any more efficiently, snow would still need to be shoveled, or a broken gate would still need to be mended, or an ill bird would still need to be examined or tended to, I'd just be worrying at work about the chickens instead. My birds get natural lighting, and have secure runs so they can go back and forth between coop and run as they please. Food and water is the only daily maintenance and I know I can streamline that if wanted, but it takes so little effort as it is it doesn't seem worth the effort of changing it. Honestly the thing that would make the biggest difference in my routine is if I had running water/outdoor spigot at the coops that was defrosted year round, and maybe a storage shed closer so my tools and feed is more easily accessible, but that's just personal choice on coop location on my property. A better cleaning system for the duck run would be good. If that could be automated somehow like automatic cat litter boxes or something... ducks are messy critters and not so good at composting their own waste compared to chickens... hmm... if my food was on autoreorder and autodelivery from somehwhere, but shipping feed is outrageous. I digress. I'm going with if it ain't broke, don't fix it. There's not use reinventing the wheel, and other such adages.

 

[PirateGirl]

@aart I think smarter in chicken keeping terms has to do with efficiency of routine and design/setup of the coop and run. I really can't see where smart technology and/or automation would do anything.

Although...

If Rosie could do some deep cleans for me once in awhile...

 

[aart]

@aart I think smarter in chicken keeping terms has to do with efficiency of routine and design/setup of the coop and run. I really can't see where smart technology and/or automation would do anything.

Yeah, that's what I'm sayin'

 

[PirateGirl]

Wait, I did have something that would be kinda amazing... pneumatic tube system (old technology I know) adapted so it sucks the eggs out of the nest boxes and they end up in my fridge (or your location of choice).

 

[Lizzy733]

spending quality time bonding with the chickens, instead of blowing my scarce time on automatable manual labor.

I am definitely not opposed to automation - especially when it can improve the wellbeing of your flock and when you have a large flock to manage, however, providing for your flock is its own form of bonding which should not be understated.
Aside from just being the playful human, meeting their needs goes a long way in the establishment of trust and can deepen that relationship. They way they're wired is highly reward\benefit based and you need to be present regularly to maintain that relationship.
I would recommend that if you can, you should. Opening pop doors and filling feeders forces extra interaction on your part- especially if it keeps you going out to the coop daily.

 

[jthornton]

Yea a "Smart" chicken coop is one that takes only a few minutes a day to take care of. For me that is 5 minutes in the morning and 1-2 minutes every evening unless I just want to have a lap full of chickens and socialize some...

JT

 

[K0k0shka]

Not sure how it helps leaning of plants, unless it raises the light fixture?

No, the supports for leaning/climbing/hanging are a separate thing. My varieties of tomatoes and peppers, for example, can't stand on their own and fall over, so they need special supports they can brace themselves against. Otherwise I have to tie each one to a post or something, and keep up with it as it grows.

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

I don't think chicken stuff can be automated, realistically. For the coop I'm aiming for smart design in general, to save me work and time. For example, the floor-level poop door and positioning the compost heap immediately next to it. So for the big clean-up, I just push all the bedding out the poop door with a push broom, and it lands directly on the compost pile. Saves me all the shoveling, filling of bags/buckets, carrying out to another location... or filling of wheelbarrows... etc. Or covering the run in the winter, greenhouse-style - that will save me all the shoveling of snow and dealing with mud. Lots of time and effort in savings. Or, designing the run to be secure enough that I can leave the pop door open day and night, year-round. That saves me having to open and close the door every day, and makes it easier to leave for a long weekend or vacation, since I won't need to find somebody willing to commit to twice-daily visits at inconvenient times.

I don't mind spending time doing chores, and with a good setup they don't have to take long - I don't think 10 minutes a day is too much at all - it's the timing that really doesn't work for me. I will have 10 minutes a day for the chickens, even more than 10, but it won't be exactly when the chickens need it. It will be when I'm not tied up doing other stuff (work, kids, etc.) So that doesn't help the chickens much, if they rely on me to feed them in the morning and I'm trying to get everybody out the door and headed to 4 different destinations. So I'm gonna have the pop door open so they can leave when they want, and I'm gonna have a large feeder and waterer that can hold a week or two's worth of food and as much water as possible (in a spill-proof container with nipples), so they're not starving if I miss a morning. I'll bond with them over scraps. They like those better anyway. I work from home 2 days a week, and with the weekends, that's 4 out of 7 days I'll be around to check on them multiple times a day, but it will be whenever I'm not in a conference call or something else, on my schedule.

This is why I don't have a dog, by the way. I understand how demanding they are, and I cannot give a dog what it needs with my life as it is right now. But chickens are a lot more independent. With a well-designed setup that can go on cruise control for the most part, I can fit the less time-sensitive interactions to wherever I have gaps in my schedule. That's what I'd call smart, not necessarily the presence of a screen or cam or other high tech.

 

[Lizzy733]

No, the supports for leaning/climbing/hanging are a separate thing. My varieties of tomatoes and peppers, for example, can't stand on their own and fall over, so they need special supports they can brace themselves against. Otherwise I have to tie each one to a post or something, and keep up with it as it grows.


I don't think chicken stuff can be automated, realistically. For the coop I'm aiming for smart design in general, to save me work and time. For example, the floor-level poop door and positioning the compost heap immediately next to it. So for the big clean-up, I just push all the bedding out the poop door with a push broom, and it lands directly on the compost pile. Saves me all the shoveling, filling of bags/buckets, carrying out to another location... or filling of wheelbarrows... etc. Or covering the run in the winter, greenhouse-style - that will save me all the shoveling of snow and dealing with mud. Lots of time and effort in savings. Or, designing the run to be secure enough that I can leave the pop door open day and night, year-round. That saves me having to open and close the door every day, and makes it easier to leave for a long weekend or vacation, since I won't need to find somebody willing to commit to twice-daily visits at inconvenient times.

I don't mind spending time doing chores, and with a good setup they don't have to take long - I don't think 10 minutes a day is too much at all - it's the timing that really doesn't work for me. I will have 10 minutes a day for the chickens, even more than 10, but it won't be exactly when the chickens need it. It will be when I'm not tied up doing other stuff (work, kids, etc.) So that doesn't help the chickens much, if they rely on me to feed them in the morning and I'm trying to get everybody out the door and headed to 4 different destinations. So I'm gonna have the pop door open so they can leave when they want, and I'm gonna have a large feeder and waterer that can hold a week or two's worth of food and as much water as possible (in a spill-proof container with nipples), so they're not starving if I miss a morning. I'll bond with them over scraps. They like those better anyway. I work from home 2 days a week, and with the weekends, that's 4 out of 7 days I'll be around to check on them multiple times a day, but it will be whenever I'm not in a conference call or something else, on my schedule.

This is why I don't have a dog, by the way. I understand how demanding they are, and I cannot give a dog what it needs with my life as it is right now. But chickens are a lot more independent. With a well-designed setup that can go on cruise control for the most part, I can fit the less time-sensitive interactions to wherever I have gaps in my schedule. That's what I'd call smart, not necessarily the presence of a screen or cam or other high tech.

I incidentally made my raised coop 'just' tall enough to park the wheelbarrow comfortably below the floor- little hand rake and the job's as good as done and I can distribute to the compost bins as needed

 

[aart]

I don't think chicken stuff can be automated, realistically. For the coop I'm aiming for smart design in general, to save me work and time

Right, that was my whole point .

 

[K0k0shka]

Right, that was my whole point .

Yeah but you said that you didn’t want it smart. Not that you didn’t want it automated. That’s not the same thing, and that’s *my* point.