My DIY automatic chicken POP door opener/closer

[BockaBocka]

This is a great idea, however, I think you could cut the size in half by using lengths of say...4" pvc for the liquid containers, otherwise it's awesome.

 

[newfy1]

Could this be solar powered? I live in Florida and we have plenty of sun!

Definitely going to build this, if I adapt it to solar will post.

 

[NYcue]

hello newfy1

WOW, people still reading this post!

I don't see why solar wouldn't work. The electric draw is very minimal particularly if you use digital timers where you can set the door to open and close for 1 minute. That's only 2 minutes a day on a small amp pump. I would seriously consider doing that except that i live in the North-East and would still require electric to keep the water from freezing in the Winter. If only I could find a good solar solution for warming water I would be set. But if you do set it up as solar, gee, i would really like to see that! Good luck to you whatever solution you choose.

 

[SlowBro]

Do the two containers flop over fast when there is enough liquid transferred or do they sort of ease up and down slowly?

 

[NYcue]

Hello SlowBro...

It's a very gradual opening and closing of the door. Depending on the weather for some reason the door takes anywhere between about 30 to 45 seconds to fully open and close. One thing is certain... the chicks are in absolute no danger of being hurt by the door!

 

[oma415]

I love the idea. How did it work out for you? Any bugs you had to work out?

 

[dewtattoo]

@NYcue I am a little late to the game on this post, but I have to tell you that I absolutely love your design. I have been looking for a way to make an affordable automatic pop door opener without needing a degree in electrical engineering. I am definitely going to borrow from your design. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Paul Richardson]

I wanted to share with you my DIY automatic coop door opener/closer and hopefully get some feedback. But first I think I should begin with some background information to explain why I built my own opener. I purchased four Barred Rocks in March/2012. The original plan was to use a chicken-tractor I purchased. However, I was not happy with it for many reasons. So… I decided to build the Garden chicken coop. I finished that build a couple of months ago.

Here is what my Coop/Run looks like. My backyard slopes a bit so I used OZ deck postings and raised the entire coop/run and built a small deck to enter the run.




I deviated from the Garden Coop plan in that I did not build a small access door. Instead I made the entire inside wall a door. Here is what it looks like closed.




Here… the wall/door is open. I really like having the entire wall open instead of a small door because cleaning is so much easier. However, because of this design I have no room to add a traditional chicken coop door opener. There simply is no room above to have a motor of any kind. Besides… they are expensive!




This is a difficult picture to see (difficult to take as well) but this is the POP door. It’s basically Plexi-glass on two tracks and some fishing weights attached to the top of the glass to add weight. If you look closely there is a twist-tie placed on the top center of the glass where the weights are attached. Also, but impossible to see is heavy-duty fishing line. That fishing line is used to open and close the door.




In the back of the coop is this enclosure. Notice the fishing line at the top of the coop (with a pulley) running down into the enclosure.




And here it is… The engine for the automatic chicken pop door opener/closer.

It’s a fairly simple design. At the top I have a 5” clothes-line wheel that balances two containers. Each container has a small ECO185 water pump inside that I purchased from Amazon for $12 each. You’ll notice that the fluid in each container is blue. I am using premium windshield washer fluid that is rated not to freeze up to -30 degrees. At the top of the enclosure you will see three Intergalactic outdoor electric timers. One for each pump and the third one is for the light I have for the coop house. The electric cable goes into the enclosure on the right side and plugs into a three-way electric splitter.




In this picture you can see the orange three-way electric splitter.

Each of the three electric timers are plugged into the splitter. And the water pumps themselves are plugged into the electric timers. Also notice the cloth-line on the right-hand side has a small clamp attached to it. This is where I attached the heavy-duty fishing line that is used to open and close the pop door.

When the container on the right-hand side is filled with fluid it goes down which pulls the fishing line down. This action causes the POP door to open. In the evening when the right-side container pump turns on and drains it fluid to the left-side container, the right side container rises which causes the POP door to close.

Each pump only turns on once a day for one minute. Very simple…

I like to think of this gizmo as a proof of concept beta unit. My original plan was not to hang this enclosure so low where it hangs over the hardware-mesh but higher up on the coop-house itself. But because my coop/run is already high up… I chose not too at this time because I would need a ladder to access the timers if I needed to.

Winter is coming fast where I live (upstate NY) and the temperature is already dipping in to the 30’s and I have other projects to do. But next Spring I plan on rebuilding this entire enclosure. It really does not need to be so large and I will hang it up on the house itself so it won't block the view over of the hardware mesh. The enclosure itself can easily be taken down as only a couple of screws on the inside are used to attach it to the coop.

I estimate that the entire project cost me about $100. What do you think?

 

[Paul Richardson]

Brilliant

 

[Mouthpear]

I love your idea but I was wondering, if you are using windshield washer fluid because it will not freeze then why have the enclosure at all? It would seem to me that the box wouldn't need to be necessary and could decrease the overall cost.

You shouldn't use windshield wiper fluid. Should anything fail and spill out during maintenance or failure you could do harm to your chickens. Use Propylene Glycol instead. It is food grade antifreeze.