No pop door?

[Mallory]

I asked this in another thread, but no one replied. I think I must've killed it.

Can you choose to have no pop door, OR - Can you use a doggie door, with a flap? Would the chickens push through something like that?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Do you just want to avoid having to open and close the door every day? Chickens are locked in the coop at night, because it keeps them safe from predators.

If you want to have the coop open into a run that has been built to be extra secure, you could do that. Some people wouldn't. I wouldn't do it unless the run was made with heavy duty 1/2" hardware cloth, roofed or also had hardware cloth on top, had anti-digging wire on the ground around the perimeter, the whole thing was secured with wood screws and the run door was locked with a raccoon proof lock.

Depending on the size of the run and the cost of materials, especially good hardware cloth, it can be cheaper to just buy an automatic door.

 

[patandchickens]

The reason people generally have a popdoor instead of just leaving the people door open all day is mainly that no matter where you live there are sometimes days when there's a limit to how much weather you want coming indoors. The small popdoor keeps out a lot more sideways rain, etc than an open people-door does.

The reason people generally have a popdoor instead of just an opening is, as WW says, so you can close it at night to keep predators out. it is easy to believe you have a 100% predatorproof run; as you will see from a browse of the Predators and Pests section of this forum, it is a lot harder to actually HAVE a 100% predatorproof run and KEEP it that way every day of the year. (A lot of people who lose chickens had left the popdoor open overnight b/c they were SURE nothing could POSSIBLY get in...) It's up to you, of course, just letting you know the deal.

Some people have got their chickens using hard plastic dog doors, but others have had trouble and given up. Flexible materials like translucent vinyl shelf liner or wide strips of canvas etc are a bit easier to train them to use. But of course not even remotely predatorproof, and some weather still blows in.

Hope this answers your question sorta, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Mallory]

Yes your replies helped me understand! Thanks.

I will be using a regular "manual" pop door.

Unless I can get hubs to rig something up, because I don't want spend the money on an automatic door. I'm trying to keep the tractor costs as low as possible. A pop door will be a must because there won't be any anti-digging fencing...