Hens Coming out of Coop before 5am, gave them a light

The girls started getting up and coming out between 3:30 and 4:30am! After maybe a week they’d come out around 5am. So I set the light to come on around the same time so they could at least see their food and water.

I took off their automatic doors and replaced with flexible poly so my daughter won’t have to worry about them malfunctioning while I’m away.

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Nice. Could you also stick a motion sensor right above their door looking down that would turn the lights on if they exit between 3:30 AM and sunrise, turning them off at sunrise?

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They stopped coming out that early. Maybe because of the weather. But I do have the light on a timer and it turns off at 7am. A motion censored light is only good for a certain amount of time then turns back off. It would be going on and off every time the girls passed by it. They can see a little bit in front of their little coop from the flood light in my backyard. I have a canopy in front of the larger coop (where I used to have some older hens) and the light is protected under the tarp. I would put another light on their side as well, but the tarp on that canopy ripped off.

You would just do a turn on until dawn if the motion sensor saw motion (a rule to turn on with motion, a rule to turn off at dawn), but sounds like you are working well. :slight_smile:

Yeah, I’ve got the device safely under the canopy on the other side. There is no canopy on their side now, so no protection from plugs getting wet.