Stardew Valley – Animal Behavior at Nighttime

stardew-valley

In Stardew Valley, you are supposed to pet your animals in the morning, make sure they have food (hay), and then open their door so they can go outside (in a fenced in area with grass).

I know you are supposed to close the door at night, but if you don't, they get unhappy or can die overnight. What time does it need to be closed before they start losing happiness? The wiki says 6 PM, but does that mean you have to be asleep or it will decline, or does the door just have to be closed?

On top of that, if it is 6 PM, does the chance for the animals to be eaten start then, or is that only overnight with the door open?

Best Answer

You don't need to close the barn doors at night. I have went in-game years without closing barn doors. Animals will go inside when they want with the doors open.

From the wiki, They will get unhappy if they are outside after 7PM

Animal outside past 7PM (-4 to -8 every 10 minutes does not stack with any other "every 10 minutes" effect)

But being inside has a similar effect

Player staying awake past 6PM, animal inside Barn or Coop (-4 to -8 every 10 minutes the Player stays awake, until a minimum of 150 is reached.)

You are misunderstanding how and when animals are attacked

From the wiki

If an animal has been trapped outside with the barn or coop doors closed, there is a chance they will be attacked by a wild animal during the night.

After the player goes to sleep, any events that will happen during the night (such as Bundle events) are calculated as normal. If no events are due to occur, there will be a 50% chance that the game will attempt to start a wild animal attack event. If this event proceeds, the game will go through all buildings to find a barn or coop that has their doors closed and has animals left outside.