Smart monitoring for your coop’s doors, openings, and atmosphere
What is Mother Hen™?
Mother Hen™ is a smart monitoring system that watches your chicken coop — the automatic chicken door you already own, every human access door, and the coop’s temperature — and alerts you instantly if anything goes wrong.
Designed and built by Smith Varmint Works LLC in Tennessee, Mother Hen™ was created by a retired Silicon Valley software engineer after a friend lost nearly their entire flock to a predator due to a failed automatic door. This isn’t just a gadget — it’s a mission to prevent preventable tragedies.
Key Design Principles
Monitor-only. Mother Hen watches the vertically-opening automatic chicken door you already own. It never opens or closes your door. We do not sell a door, motor, limit switch, or door plate, and never have.
Coop monitor, not just a door monitor. Add BTS-MP1 opening + temperature sensors to any door, window, nest box lid, hatch, or run gate. Each sensor also reports coop temperature at its location — so you catch frost and heat stress alongside open-opening problems.
Cloud-powered intelligence. Amazon Web Services (AWS) handles sunrise/sunset math, alert orchestration, and event history.
Triple Redundancy Alerts
Local: coop-side indicator
Remote: The Egg flashes red and squawks indoors
SMS: alerts to your recipient list
Smart Timing. Uses your coop’s location to calculate sunrise and sunset with a 30-minute grace window.
Cellular-only at launch. The Coop Controller ships with built-in cellular. No home Wi-Fi is required at the coop.
110V in the coop. One outlet at the coop is all you need — grid, solar with an inverter, or generator.
Extreme climate ready. Rated for -20°C to +45°C at the coop.
Core System Components
Coop Controller
A cellular-connected unit that lives in the coop. It reads the position of your existing automatic chicken door and every paired BTS-MP1 sensor, and reports to the cloud.
BTS-MP1 opening + temperature sensor
Magnetic open/close sensor that mounts on any opening — doors, windows, nest box lids, hatches, or run gates — and reports coop temperature at that location. Can also be used in temperature-only mode on an interior wall, near a roost, or inside a brooder. Sold à la carte: first unit $15, additional units $35 each. Not included in the base kit.
The Egg (Indoor Status Indicator)
An indoor beacon for your home:
Green = daytime, all clear
Blue = nighttime, all clear
Flashing red + squawk = problem (door open, temp issue, etc.)
Up to 16 Eggs per coop
Customer Portal (mother-hen.com)
Web-based — works in any modern browser, no app to install
Real-time status dashboard
Alert customization (which doors alert, temperature thresholds, quiet hours)
SMS recipient management
Event history
SMS is the primary notification channel; the portal is for setup and review
Installation
Plug the Controller into a 110V outlet in the coop. Mount the chicken-door position sensor on the door you already own. Mount the BTS-MP1 on your human door. Plug The Egg into a household outlet. The Controller self-provisions over cellular — no BLE pairing, no Wi-Fi setup at the coop. See the setup FAQ for details.
Currently running as a prototype across two live beta coops — one in Tennessee and one in Colorado.
