Automatic swing door??

cluckey

Songster
6 Years
Sep 17, 2014
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I've seen many ideas for automatic doors in the coop and with the time change this weekend I won't be home before dark to close the doors anymore. I would love to do an automated door on a timer but all mu doors are swing doors on higes.does anyone have any advise for getting my doors automatic? Everything I found is very very expensive.
 
MrStop that sounds way beyond what I can do on my own. I am not very technical! My coop doors are pretty wide and we just added an extension onto the run that limits the space by the doors even more
 
A linear actuator and some relay switches would work nicely. The wiring diagrams can seem a little intimidating, but if you take your time and pay attention, it's not hard to wire them up correctly. I would mount the linear actuator under your coop and have it push the door open and pull it closed. As you know, chickens don't need a real big hole to slide through, so a 10" to 12" actuator ought to be plenty big enough.

If you didn't want to totally change your doors to the guillotine type, maybe you might could at least move the hinges from the side of the door to the top of the door, so that the doors open like a drawbridge?????

Swing gate opener using a linear actuator. You can probably put the whole project together for <$100 (actuator runs about $50).

 
Pardon my drawing, but here is what i mean by installing an actuator under your coop to push the door open. You could mount it on the outside, but mounting it underneath might better protect it from the elements.

 
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Thats exactly what i was thinking of!! I found some at this website... http://www.gatesplus.com.au/Swing01.html
Hopefully this work. Any other ideas on where to get this system?

You can buy linear actuators online (amazon, ebay, etc.) for about $50.

The actuators can be used to push and pull the door open and closed. Chickens don't need a huge door opening, so I wouldn't bother with anything over about 10" to 12". And if you get your mounting angles configured accordingly, you can probably get by with an actuator that is even smaller than that (i think the 3rd picture below uses a 4" actuator to open a cabinet 90*)


The wiring and timer stuff isn't terribly difficult, even though some of the diagrams can make you dizzy.

 
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