When Should an Automatic Coop Door Close? Are my chickens night owls?

[Chicken_Bureaucrat]

My coop has the automatic Ladies First Chicken Door:

https://www.ladiesfirstchickendoor.com/products/

This thing is supposed to close when it starts to get dark, using it's solar panel to detect this. And it generally does a good job at this.

My problem is my hens never make it in before it closes. This is my first time with a flock so I don't know if something is wrong with the door or the chickens. I'll explain what is going on:

The door has a solar panel and detects when it starts to get dark and closes then. However it doesn't wait until night. It closes generally about when the sun is about a hand's breadth from the horizon. Though there are houses and trees in the way of this so it is hard for me to tell exactly. It isn't actually dark at this point though so the hens haven't though to actually go inside!

Do your hens start to go inside around then? Should they be going in before it gets actually dark? Are my chickens waiting out a stupidly long time? I've noticed that when they want to go inside it's generally dark enough in the coop that they sometimes don't make it all the way up onto the roost, choosing instead to roost on the raised lip of the poop board. Fortunately the lip of the poop board is a roost sized bit of wood and there are few enough of them that they don't poop on each other. But that indicates to me that maybe they're going to bed too late?

There are only 3 of them and they are only about 6 months old, they have had no older hens to teach them when to go to bed.

Does the door need fixing or do they need training?

 

[aart]

I would think the solar panel would power it and there would be a separate device to detect the darkness to close and open.
Do you have the option of using a timer instead?

 

[Chicken_Bureaucrat]

I would think the solar panel would power it and there would be a separate device to detect the darkness to close and open.
Do you have the option of using a timer instead?

The solar panel is actually the light detector:
https://www.ladiesfirstchickendoor.com/faq/

It's actually a very elegant design, a solar panel is just an electrical element that varies it's current based on how much light it sees. And since your device can measure how much current is flowing you can know how much light there is without needing a second sensor. They're getting two functions out of the same thing! So I don't mean to impute the device at all, I think it's really cool!

There is no timer option, it's supposed to be so that as the season changes you don't have to reset your timer.

The door will be fixable if the problem is the door closing too early though, I'm sure there's some resistor in there I can swap the value of to make it close later. But I want to make sure it's not my chickens going to bed too late first.

 

[DonyaQuick]

My coop has the automatic Ladies First Chicken Door:

https://www.ladiesfirstchickendoor.com/products/

This thing is supposed to close when it starts to get dark, using it's solar panel to detect this. And it generally does a good job at this.

My problem is my hens never make it in before it closes. This is my first time with a flock so I don't know if something is wrong with the door or the chickens. I'll explain what is going on:

The door has a solar panel and detects when it starts to get dark and closes then. However it doesn't wait until night. It closes generally about when the sun is about a hand's breadth from the horizon. Though there are houses and trees in the way of this so it is hard for me to tell exactly. It isn't actually dark at this point though so the hens haven't though to actually go inside!

Do your hens start to go inside around then? Should they be going in before it gets actually dark? Are my chickens waiting out a stupidly long time? I've noticed that when they want to go inside it's generally dark enough in the coop that they sometimes don't make it all the way up onto the roost, choosing instead to roost on the raised lip of the poop board. Fortunately the lip of the poop board is a roost sized bit of wood and there are few enough of them that they don't poop on each other. But that indicates to me that maybe they're going to bed too late?

There are only 3 of them and they are only about 6 months old, they have had no older hens to teach them when to go to bed.

Does the door need fixing or do they need training?

My hens were like yours until I had roos. Not saying you need a roo but my hens always just seem to care less than the boys about how dark it gets. Before I had roos, the ladies first got stuck out a lot then finally would make it in but would do it right at the last minute before pitch black. They learned the coop layout and would frequently just kind of stumble in and sit wherever not being able to see once inside. I had to set my door to close pretty late using time rather than light (I have a different door, don't know if yours can do that) and had to train them a lot. With roosters though...my boys have them all to bed roosted in a line no less than 1/2hr before dark. Go figure.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Oh almost forgot - one thing I did to combat them just sleeping wherever was a coop light to both draw them in at the right time and get them situated before it went dark. If you can do that you might have much better results. Didn't entirely train them though if the light went dead; they'd still wait until oddly late.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't use an automatic door, but my birds go inside between 7-8pm every night.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I have to say my Roo does put the girls to bed early, most time 1/2 hour before dark. My auto door is on a timer and set to close after dark and opens before light. The door opens 15 to 20 minutes before light and closes about 20 minutes after dark. The chickens are in a predator proof run also.

 

[Yardmom]

My younger birds are often the last in. They may start to go in earlier when they are older. On the other hand If your door is closing before the sun is all the way down it is closing a bit early.

 

[Mandy120]

My coop has the automatic Ladies First Chicken Door:

https://www.ladiesfirstchickendoor.com/products/

This thing is supposed to close when it starts to get dark, using it's solar panel to detect this. And it generally does a good job at this.

My problem is my hens never make it in before it closes. This is my first time with a flock so I don't know if something is wrong with the door or the chickens. I'll explain what is going on:

The door has a solar panel and detects when it starts to get dark and closes then. However it doesn't wait until night. It closes generally about when the sun is about a hand's breadth from the horizon. Though there are houses and trees in the way of this so it is hard for me to tell exactly. It isn't actually dark at this point though so the hens haven't though to actually go inside!

Do your hens start to go inside around then? Should they be going in before it gets actually dark? Are my chickens waiting out a stupidly long time? I've noticed that when they want to go inside it's generally dark enough in the coop that they sometimes don't make it all the way up onto the roost, choosing instead to roost on the raised lip of the poop board. Fortunately the lip of the poop board is a roost sized bit of wood and there are few enough of them that they don't poop on each other. But that indicates to me that maybe they're going to bed too late?

There are only 3 of them and they are only about 6 months old, they have had no older hens to teach them when to go to bed.

Does the door need fixing or do they need training?

I have same problem I have 10 hens 1-1/2 years old and 7 hens, 5 months old, the young ones go in early but the older hens don't go in before the door closes so I have to go out and open the door so they can get in. I notice the young ones are up and out early in the morning and the older hens are still in the coop sleeping. I guess my older ones are night owls!

 

[Coffetym]

I have 16 hens & 2 Roos. They are all right at 17 wks old. I have a FarmLite auto coop door. (I highly recommend!) It has a programmable timer that I’m using right now. I have it set to open 30 min after daylight & about 10 min before complete dark.
This door has a photocell for dusk dawn use & the sensitivity is programmable. If the sensitivity of your photocell isn’t adjustable, try facing it more towards the sunset. It open a little later in the morning but should stay open later also. This should give your hens time to get in the coop.
I will say, I would have to research your door & solar panel. The solar panel should only be gathering sunlight to keep a battery charged & the photocell should be located on the door itself.