If you’re new to Smart Coop HQ, this is the map. I’m Kenny — I’ve kept chickens since 2014 and automated my own coop in 2022, and everything here is written from a coop I actually run, not a spec sheet. Here’s where to go depending on what you’re trying to solve.
“I want to stop running out to close the coop at night”
That’s the exact problem that got me into automation. Start with the automatic coop door buyer’s guide to pick a mechanism — light-trigger, timer, or astro-schedule — then the installation and timing guide to mount it so it never closes on a slow bird. All the door reviews live under brand reviews.
“Something keeps killing my birds”
Predators arrive in the gap between dusk and door-close — I’ve lost hens to exactly that. Read the predator-proofing guide: hardware cloth (never chicken wire), ½-inch mesh, dig aprons, and latches a raccoon can’t work.
“I’m building or sizing a coop”
Get the ventilation right first — it’s the thing I design before anything else, because moisture, not cold, is what hurts a winter flock. Then size it honestly with the coop sizing guides (build for more birds than you think — chicken math is real).
“I want to make my coop smart”
The smart coop tech section covers cameras, sensors, and running the whole thing on Home Assistant — door on a sunrise/sunset offset, a freeze-watch on the heated waterer, and motion zones on the camera so I can check the run without opening the pop door.
“I just want healthy, laying hens”
Start with feeding by bird and season and the layer vs. grower feed breakdown, then the husbandry basics like common chick problems and the chick growth timeline.
How I test
Every recommendation here is from gear installed on my own coop and run through at least one full season — door-jam recovery, sensors through humidity cycles, feeders against the same hens that have spent a decade learning to break things. Where I haven’t tested something, I say so. And for disease, medication, or anything needing a vet, I’ll route you to one rather than guess.
Want the whole library? Everything is on the guides hub, newest first. Curious who’s behind it? Here’s my full story.