In our recent survey the number one voiced concern was “How do I keep my chickens safe?” Here are a few ideas to do just that:

Your chickens are vulnerable at all hours of the day and night. The biggest problems we hear of are neighborhood dogs and birds of prey that attack during the day. At night the most problematic predators seem to be raccoons, skunks, opossums, and owls.

At sunset, your birds will “come home to roost”. Use this to your advantage and securely lock them into their coop. This is not to keep the chickens in but to keep the predators out. You can accomplish this by manually shutting and locking the coop door yourself or by assigning the task to others. But you must do it every night, for it only takes once for a raccoon to get in and destroy your flock. Another option is an automatic coop door. It will automatically close the coop door, so if you arrive home late, your birds will be safely locked up in the coop.

We have developed Murray’s Best Chicken Coop Controller to be more than just a door opener. It will open the coop door a few minutes before sunrise and close the door a few minutes after sunset with the use of an electronic light sensor, but it does so much more! The controller is also equipped with a temperature sensor that will not allow the door to open until outside temperatures are above 20 degrees Fahrenheit. This feature protects your birds from freezing temperatures outdoors and also helps keep your coop warmer.

It has been known for many years that chickens lay more eggs if they receive 16 hours of light a day. We have built into Murray’s Best Chicken Coop Controller a light timer that turns on an LED light panel eight hours after sunset.This allows the chickens to receive their supplemental light just before sunrise when the door opens. This early morning artificial light will stimulate the hens, and it encourages them to lay their eggs prior to the door opening, so that the eggs will be easier to gather.

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