ADOR1 Automatic Coop Door?

[dungheap71]

Does anyone know what the Ovalight feature is?

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

Does anyone know what the Ovalight feature is?

From the Ador website OvaLight is an accessory you mount inside the coop where your hens will experience the light where they roost or nest. The idea is that egg production drops off in the winter because the hen's retinas are in the dark too long. That's because the earth rotates on a tilted axis that makes, up here in the Northern Hemisphere, shorter days in the winter. But you learned that before you were a fifth grader... just in case you forgot.

Hormones are stimulated through the neural connection between the chicken retina to the chicken brain to chicken pituitary via a neuro-chemical pathway and cascades toward follicle stimulation hormone (FSH) production within the pituitary. The FSH molecule is carried to the ovaries through the chicken's circulatory system. Then the chicken ovaries have little follicles from whence are created tiny little proto-ova, which are stimulated by the FSH.

Well, admittedly I made that up. I'm just an engineer. But it sounds pretty good, huh. No. All I really think I know I read somewhere that people think hens will produce more eggs if they have more light. Sounds reasonable to me.

Here's how the ADOR1 automatic chicken door OvaLight accessory works. It only works if you enable it. Factory default setting has OvaLight disabled. If it is enabled, a timer within the ADOR1 electronic controller starts when the door shuts for the night. The timer runs for approximately 8 hours. After that delay, the aux output is turned on, and if you have it connected to the OvaLight then the hens receive light starting at that time. Why not. They already got a good 8 hours sleep! More than I get. No, I'm just sayin'. Personally, I think they worked hard all summer and now they can rest a little for the winter. Seriously, I think it is a good idea to increase your production if that's what you want to do. The light stays on until dawn and automatically shuts off.

So if the sun goes down at 8PM and comes up at 6:30AM, the OvaLight will be on from 4AM to Dawn and the hens will get an extra 2.5 hours of light. Another way to figure it is simply the hens get 16 hours of light every day while the OvaLight is enabled. That's not like 16 hours of daylight though because the extra light in the coop does not have to be so bright.

So come back to the www.AdorStore.com web site and see when we will have an add-on kit for the OvaLight.

 

[AdorStore]

I wonder if you shouldn't tape the battery in place to prevent it from sliding around if the door does vibrate or slam unintentionally. Duct tape would surely do the trick.

Or sticky back Velcro. Or sticky back foam tape. But you're right about Duct Tape. Thanks for the tip.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

For anyone considering installing an Automatic Coop Door...here is my review of the ADOR:

"ADOR Automatic Coop Door for Peace of Mind" at the Backyard Chicken Lady blog.

http://backyardchickenlady.blogspot.com/2013/05/ador-automatic-coop-door-for-peace-of.html

 

[MoonShadows]

For anyone considering installing an Automatic Coop Door...here is my review of the ADOR:

"ADOR Automatic Coop Door for Peace of Mind" at the Backyard Chicken Lady blog.

http://backyardchickenlady.blogspot.com/2013/05/ador-automatic-coop-door-for-peace-of.html

Very well written review, and I couldn't agree with you more. It's a great door.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

Very well written review, and I couldn't agree with you more. It's a great door.

Thank you

 

[dringge]

I really would like to get one but have questions. 1) This might sound silly but will a full moon fool it? I am just wondering how sensitive the door is. 2) My popdoor faces north. I will need to put up a wind deflector for cold Iowa weather. Is that a problem? 3) How is the reliability in the cold weather? I leave home before dawn and its not unusual to get home after dark especially in the winter months.

 

[MoonShadows]

I know that this is a long thread, but some where Rod (the inventor) mentions that the moon will not trick it into opening. The wind deflector shouldn't be a problems if you are not blocking off the natural light. Remember, it is not the sun that triggers it; it's the overall lightness or darkness that triggers it.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I really would like to get one but have questions. 1) This might sound silly but will a full moon fool it? I am just wondering how sensitive the door is. 2) My popdoor faces north. I will need to put up a wind deflector for cold Iowa weather. Is that a problem? 3) How is the reliability in the cold weather? I leave home before dawn and its not unusual to get home after dark especially in the winter months.

Answers as best I can answer them based on my own personal use.

Question 1.) We have had a full moon since I installed ours and the door still closed as usual, so the answer is no, a full moon doesn't seem to effect the door closing.

Question 2.) As long as the wind deflector doesn't block the sensor so it can still sense dawn and dusk it shouldn't be a problem. If it does, ADOR also has a remote sensor that can be installed in a different location.

Question 3.) I don't know about cold weather, we don't have extremely cold or hot here.

Rod from ADOR monitors this forum so he will most likely chime in with answers as well.

 

[dringge]

I went back and dug around on the ADOR1 website and found a lot the answers. The remote sensor would ease my mind quite a bit.
Thank you for the responses. I will be ordering one soon.