We've had a Pullet-Shut automatic door for about 2 years and it's great. It works off of a trickled charged battery, is metal and shuts tightly. Best thing we ever got. The website is chickendoors.com.
You can attach a "s" hook to the top of a waterer with a clamp and hang it from a roof support in the coop with a metal chain, using the links to adjust the height. Works well except in the winter.
No we're outside hartford ct and sell eggs pastured chickens with organic feed for $5/dozen but have regular customer list. I tell people who buy eggs for $2/dozen to eat the container also since it has about the same nutritional value as the eggs.
We live on 30 acres and freerange our flock. We've found that the only birds that will get by without bothering with the layer pellets are our jungle fowl (4 roosters and 11 hens). The domestic breeds (Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks and Jersey Blacks) will forage for food but still seem to...