What time do I open the coop door?

[Ridgerunner]

Just wondering how others time their chicken release.

I've been trying to think why you'd ask this. What are you trying to control or what do you gain by when you open the pop door? Is it just that you've read the pop door should be open at sunrise and you don't know why? I suspect that would cover a lot of people on here on a lot of topics. That may be why they are on the forum.

My definition of "sunrise" in this is when can they see well enough to start interacting, eating, and drinking. I don't see official sunrise having any real bearing on it. That can be quite a bit later on a dark rainy morning as compared to clear skies. So it can vary, let alone with the daily variance on official sunrise as the season progresses.

Predators aren't one of my concerns as much as it is on other people's minds. Mine are released into a pretty predator resistant run and a large area protected by electric netting. If predators became an issue my attitude could certainly change.

I feed and water both in the coop and the run. If you only have food and/or water outside you might want them to have access to it sooner rather than later.

My coop is big enough that I don't have behavior problems if they are left locked in the coop for quite a bit of time after they can see. If your chickens start beating up on each other if they are left locked in the coop for any length of time you have an incentive to open the pop door pretty early.

Your life schedule has an influence. If you have to leave for work at 6:30 every morning that may set your timing.

Like Aart, I'm retired. While my wife won't let me be a hermit I can see some real benefits to that lifestyle. After rereading Aart's post I can see a lot of similarities in our thought processes on this topic. I generally don't go down there to open the pop door until after breakfast which often means 9:00 AM or so. If something special is going on, like when I integrate, I may be down there about the time they can see to interact.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

I've been trying to think why you'd ask this. What are you trying to control or what do you gain by when you open the pop door? Is it just that you've read the pop door should be open at sunrise and you don't know why? I suspect that would cover a lot of people on here on a lot of topics. That may be why they are on the forum.

My definition of "sunrise" in this is when can they see well enough to start interacting, eating, and drinking. I don't see official sunrise having any real bearing on it. That can be quite a bit later on a dark rainy morning as compared to clear skies. So it can vary, let alone with the daily variance on official sunrise as the season progresses.

Predators aren't one of my concerns as much as it is on other people's minds. Mine are released into a pretty predator resistant run and a large area protected by electric netting. If predators became an issue my attitude could certainly change.

I feed and water both in the coop and the run. If you only have food and/or water outside you might want them to have access to it sooner rather than later.

My coop is big enough that I don't have behavior problems if they are left locked in the coop for quite a bit of time after they can see. If your chickens start beating up on each other if they are left locked in the coop for any length of time you have an incentive to open the pop door pretty early.

Your life schedule has an influence. If you have to leave for work at 6:30 every morning that may set your timing.

Like Aart, I'm retired. While my wife won't let me be a hermit I can see some real benefits to that lifestyle. After rereading Aart's post I can see a lot of similarities in our thought processes on this topic. I generally don't go down there to open the pop door until after breakfast which often means 9:00 AM or so. If something special is going on, like when I integrate, I may be down there about the time they can see to interact.

We have a smaller coop attached to a large run. I need to see how they fit in there once fully grown, but may be a little too small to spend too much awake time. Our chickens won't be free ranging so I was curious what time I should anticipate letting them out each morning. For now we don't have an automatic door on the coop so It will be manual. Im a newbie so I wanted to get thoughts from others! thanks for sharing your setup!

 

[Brooks_]

may be a little too small to spend too much awake time

Mine is too small for awake/daylight hours. I open by 6 so they can go out as soon as they want. Seems to be closer to 7 for that. (Times change based on seasons)

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Mine is too small for awake/daylight hours. I open by 6 so they can go out as soon as they want. Seems to be closer to 7 for that.

Thanks for this. I know so many have big coops with ample room. We’re just starting out (and live in a warm climate) so having enough indoor space wasn’t a priority at this time.

 

[Brooks_]

Thanks for this. I know so many have big coops with ample room. We’re just starting out (and live in a warm climate) so having enough indoor space wasn’t a priority at this time.

I used cattle panels to make a covered hoop area adjacent to the coop for rainy days. The coop and run flow together as one unit in a way.

 

[Happy Novogens]

We have a smaller coop attached to a large run. I need to see how they fit in there once fully grown, but may be a little too small to spend too much awake time. Our chickens won't be free ranging so I was curious what time I should anticipate letting them out each morning. For now we don't have an automatic door on the coop so It will be manual. Im a newbie so I wanted to get thoughts from others! thanks for sharing your setup!

Is the run secure? If so, there's no need to close the coop.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We have a smaller coop attached to a large run. I need to see how they fit in there once fully grown, but may be a little too small to spend too much awake time.

That's very common on here and a good reason to consider sunrise to be when they can see well enough to interact.

 

[Mrs. K]

In a smaller coop, one of the other things to consider is heat. In the summer, a small coop, filled with heat producing birds, could quickly get too hot.

So what you need to consider is: predators, heat, and birds attacking each other by being overcrowded, and your own schedule.

It is always a bit worrisome to me, when a newbie, says they have a small house...is that a pre-fab coop. As they generally say in the directions that they will fit 6 birds... AND THEY WON'T. 6 birds in a too tight confinement is apt to cause a lot of trouble.

Mrs K

 

[ForFlocksSake]

In a smaller coop, one of the other things to consider is heat. In the summer, a small coop, filled with heat producing birds, could quickly get too hot.

So what you need to consider is: predators, heat, and birds attacking each other by being overcrowded, and your own schedule.

It is always a bit worrisome to me, when a newbie, says they have a small house...is that a pre-fab coop. As they generally say in the directions that they will fit 6 birds... AND THEY WON'T. 6 birds in a too tight confinement is apt to cause a lot of trouble.

Mrs K

It is a prefab that says big enough for 8. We have 5 and I’ve watched a ton of videos and read lots of reviews about my specific coop showing 7-8 fitting comfortably. Plan to keep the number 5 till they are full grown and we can evaluate. I have a wifi thermometer inside too for me to monitor the temperature as well as a large roof we built to go over the entire coop in order to create daytime shade.

 

[Mrs. K]

Oh good! I have seen so many pre-fab coops that state they will hold 6, and truthfully should not hold more than 2, unless they are bantam chickens, and only 3-4 of those.

Ventilation and space are a big concern with chickens. If your chickens get a long then you have enough space. If they start fighting, eating feathers, attacking each other, then you don't have enough space. Some birds can tolerate a bit of overcrowding, some birds cannot. Always solve for peace in the flock.

5 birds should have at least 20 square feet in the coop, and 50 square feet in the fun. That is a general rule of thumb to go by for full size adult hens. Roosters take more room than hens. So often what seems to be more than enough room for chicks, rapidly becomes not enough room for adult birds.

Mrs K