Painic room door size?

[kate2008]

I am prepping my outdoor brooder for chicks arrive next week and I am making a couple of panic doors for an early integration protocol. @azygous you mention in your article that the doors are 5" x 7". That seems really big, now that I am sketching it out. I have medium sized chickens, leghorns and easter eggers and I swear they would walk right through a door that size.

 

[azygous]

5 x 7 is a general size for a flock of standard breeds. If you have several chickens that are on the small side, 4 1/2 x 7 would be better. Or even smaller.

What you can do is fashion your door frames out of sturdy cardboard. That way you can make them larger or if you need them smaller, it's just cardboard and cheap.

You can also make horizontal entrances for the chicks to scoot under. I'd start off with three inch high gaps if that's the way you want to go.

 

[kate2008]

Thank you for your reply. I didn't even think of using cardboard, since I am trying to make something I can use over again - but cardboard sounds like the best solution until I figure out the best size for my chickens.

One more question @azygous - when you say 5x7, are you referring to the square or the size of the actual cut out with respect to this picture in your article:

 

[azygous]

The inside dimension.

 

[song of joy]

@azygous was the one who inspired me to use the panic room approach, and I can testify that it works great!

I started out with openings that were 3 x 5 inches, and did not need to increase the hatch size until the chicks were at least 8 weeks weeks old (I have mostly medium-sized breeds). I then increased it to 5 x 7 inches. A couple of my small EE hens were able to squeeze through the 5 x 7 inch openings, but by that time the chicks were old enough that it wasn't a problem.