I keep chicken , and I have for the better part of the last ten across a few unlike properties . Currently , my family has a coop with six 1 - year - old Australorps on a little , suburban lot .
I also have anxiety , which can make leaving the house for a night or longer hard . It ’s genuine that I ’m a homebody , preferring the contours of my sofa to calls from the great unknown . And after stay at home for … a year ? more ? due to the pandemic , walking out the front door feels like an unfamiliar , even dangerou effort .
But the existent world does beckon . And as the holidays and travel to far - flung family unit member ’ homes set about , I needed to reckon out how to sleep in a seam I did n’t purchase without always worrying over our low fold .
Perhaps you , like I did , picked up some poulet during lockdown . And perhaps now you ’re wondering how to travel overnight without worrying over the safety of your chickens safety the entire time . So here are some thing I do to keep poultry affright at bay while away from dwelling house .
A Secure Run
After long time of free - ranging chickens on our family farm — and losing more than a few to fox , mortarboard , minks , etc.—we decided from the get - go to keep our chickens in an enclosed run . The structure is nothing fancy ( construct of chicken telegram , pieces from a discarded glasshouse and a clear , corrugate plastic cap ) , but it hold open our wench safe from the neighborhood hawk and raccoons .
It ’s dead on target that our hens do n’t get access to growing sess . But between vegetable food waste from the kitchen and garden weeds , they get plenty of impudent vegetation . They ’re dependable and unassailable against predators , which is something we all prize .
And when we journey , I know the chickens wo n’t skip over the fence or take an impulsive stroll around the neighborhood .
Rodney Wilson
Read more : correspond out these tip for choosing the right chicken coop and go for your chickens .
Automatic Coop Door
We have aChickSafe Advanced robotic coop doorfrom Brinsea installed on our hand - built coop , and , boy howdy , do I love it . The metal door panels slide open at sunrise ( I ’ve fiddled with the sensitivity for a while to account for the clear cap panels and suspicious location , but I finally dial in the perfect number ) and closed when the sun sets .
This is , of course of action , an amazing evolution for those who want to travelandkeep chickens . But it ’s also swell on weekend , when a chicken - custodian might want some special sleep .
My job is remote , so I ’m always home . But I still sometimes do n’t physically check on my chickens until well into the good afternoon . Virtually , though … .
Rodney Wilson
Security Camera
Is it cockeyed to put a wi - fi attached security tv camera in the chicken coop ? perchance , but devices are so flashy these Day that it ’s easy to do . And , to me , it makes more sense than my neighbour ’s camera broadcasting a steady guessing of his grass .
I establish the camera above the coop door , with a view of their provender and water supply bucket . While it ’s true I ca n’t see the threshold , I ’ve come to trust that devices ’ reliableness enough to not want to see it opened and close . If my wi - fi were better , though , I likely would have installed the television camera on the other oddment , with a view of the run and hencoop .
Despite being a budget camera , our gimmick gives us everything we need . I turn on apparent motion detection at dark to ensure nothing ’s mess with the food , water or coop ladder . And when the door opens in the morning , release the birdie , I get an alert on my telephone set . Rodney Wilson
Rodney Wilson
Then I turn off movement sleuthing for the day so I do n’t get alarum every clip a chicken have some food for thought or H2O .
When I travel , I can keep an optic on my chickens from afar . And when I ’m home , I ’m also known to view a quick looking at the flock from a cozy spot on the sofa .
interpret more : This DIY crybaby - treat hawking machine is fun and handy !
Hanging Feeder
There are numerous choice for supplying large amounts of feed at a fourth dimension . robotic feedersare specially attractive , with doors that only exposed when chickens ill-use on an activator .
I have n’t gone that far yet , though . or else , I just hang a 15 - pound self-feeder from the top of our run , situated to hang right at the level of my hen ’ head .
Because it ’s under the plastic roof , solid food is protected from rain and snow . It ’s true that the feeder is opened and neglected at night for other creatures to admission . But I know they do n’t because of the security television camera . If I start out go alerts , though , I may switch to an automatic feeder . Rodney Wilson
Bucket Waterer
Chickens , like most stock , need a constant supply of fresh , clean water . And there are plenty of products that can do that for you , including auto - fill cup that link to your garden hose .
But I ’ve found that an inexpensive 5 - Imperial gallon system works substantially for my apparatus . I practice and know intwo cup waterersthat I picked up at Tractor Supply Company . I fill up up the bucket , pop on the eyelid to keep out debris and am good to go for a calendar week or more .
One note : Consider the placement of your water cups before drilling holes . I planned to put my bucketful on an former , overturned locoweed for easy memory access , so my cups are installed tight to the bucket bottom . If you plan to fix yours on the reason , though , you ’ll need to put in about an inch or high from the basis .
My chickens figured out the cup right forth , pushing the yellow plug aside to tope the wise , cool water . ( “ What about when the waterer immobilize ? ” you may need . And I ’ll in all probability involve to answer that soon enough . )
I did n’t add all of these coop security measures at once . But this is what I have now , and when I travel and do a catgut check , I appreciate not having to worry about our heap while we ’re not family to care for them .
