Tips for maintaining a coop/barn? (Gate confusion mostly)

[jaguarnick]

I already have a silo, I'm just unsure when and if you leave the gate open or closed, what the gate is exactly (is it part of the buliding or do you need to fence and gate the front yourself?), if coops and barns follow the same rules or is the gate thing only for coop animals, and how weather ties in with this.

This is the first time that I've ever tried to do animals, summer is about to end for year one if that means anything. Yes I do know about hay hoppers and how they work, the heater for winter, as well as feeding and petting them every day.

Thanks!

[NotThatHarkness]

The hatch for the animals needs to be open so they can leave the barn or coop and feed on grass. Animals are happier feeding on grass. Whether you close the door at night is optional. If all the animals are in the coop or barn in the morning (because you closed the door at night) then it's a bit more convenient to pet them all, milk the cows and goats, shear the sheep. If you leave the hatch open all your animals will be outside when you wake up. It's up to you. There's a persistent myth that closing the door at night makes the animals happier, but AFAIK that's not true.

Whether you put a fence around the barn and/or coop is a matter of personal preference. I find the animals often get in my way when I'm tending crops so I either fence in my crops or fence in my animals. If you do fence in your animals make sure the area is large enough for grass to regrow in that area. That's dependent on how many animals you have. You can always buy grass starter at Pierre's. Some people try to restrict animals to one fenced in area while grass grows in the other, and then alternate. I've never found that to be necessary. I suspect it's because the fenced in area I use is large enough for the grass to support the 15 animals I have all year long (after buying ~100 grass starter from Pierre in the Spring).

If it's raining, or winter, animals won't go outside regardless of whether the hatch is open. Leaving it open on these days doesn't seem to affect them.

[jaguarnick]

Originally posted by TreyNutz:

The hatch for the animals needs to be open so they can leave the barn or coop and feed on grass. Animals are happier feeding on grass. Whether you close the door at night is optional. If all the animals are in the coop or barn in the morning (because you closed the door at night) then it's a bit more convenient to pet them all, milk the cows and goats, shear the sheep. If you leave the hatch open all your animals will be outside when you wake up. It's up to you. There's a persistent myth that closing the door at night makes the animals happier, but AFAIK that's not true.

Whether you put a fence around the barn and/or coop is a matter of personal preference. I find the animals often get in my way when I'm tending crops so I either fence in my crops or fence in my animals. If you do fence in your animals make sure the area is large enough for grass to regrow in that area. That's dependent on how many animals you have. You can always buy grass starter at Pierre's. Some people try to restrict animals to one fenced in area while grass grows in the other, and then alternate. I've never found that to be necessary. I suspect it's because the fenced in area I use is large enough for the grass to support the 15 animals I have all year long (after buying ~100 grass starter from Pierre in the Spring).

If it's raining, or winter, animals won't go outside regardless of whether the hatch is open. Leaving it open on these days doesn't seem to affect them.

Thanks! This helps a lot.

Originally posted by TreyNutz:

I suspect it's because the fenced in area I use is large enough for the grass to support the 15 animals I have all year long (after buying ~100 grass starter from Pierre in the Spring).

How large is this fenced area exactly?

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by jaguarnick:

How large is this fenced area exactly?

http://i.imgur.com/tQcEcBs.png

I'm in spring year 3 in that picture. I had the same layout with the coop, barn, and fence in year 2 and about the same number of animals. I don't anticipate needing to plant more grass, but I also don't plan to cut back the grass in the fenced in area to fill the silo (well, I will on the last day of fall if I need to). I'll chop down all the wild trees I planted in the lower left and the grass there should spread enough to fill the silos before winter if I cut it back from time to time. I probably have enough hay anyways in the 3 silos, plus I took about 300 hay out in year 1 and put it in a chest.