Ador Coop Door - thoughts and comments, please

[Finnie]

I love my Ador as well! I have mine mounted on the interior, but my coop has plenty of glass windows, so it senses the light well enough. The first year I kept it on factory settings, and I felt that it closed up a little too early. When I had to change the battery, I fiddled with the settings and now it is better, but closes a little on the late side.

I did find that a battery lasts about one year, as many people have said. I guess my second battery is due to be replaced soon, because it’s been well over a year.

@Whigru I don’t think an inch or two above the floor surface will be enough. The key is to have 6-12 inches to hold the shavings inside the coop and keep them out of the bottom track. The bottom of the track is open, so poop and shavings and such should fall out of it. But if there is not room below it, then there would be nowhere for it to fall. I foresee the floor shavings piling up and filling in the slot. But I think the door may still function well enough.

Mine has ever only gotten stuck shut once. There just happened to be a sloppy poop on the track on a night with a hard freeze, and that frozen poop acted like glue. Easy enough to fix, and not a very common occurrence.

 

[Whigru]

I love my Ador as well! I have mine mounted on the interior, but my coop has plenty of glass windows, so it senses the light well enough. The first year I kept it on factory settings, and I felt that it closed up a little too early. When I had to change the battery, I fiddled with the settings and now it is better, but closes a little on the late side.

I did find that a battery lasts about one year, as many people have said. I guess my second battery is due to be replaced soon, because it’s been well over a year.

@Whigru I don’t think an inch or two above the floor surface will be enough. The key is to have 6-12 inches to hold the shavings inside the coop and keep them out of the bottom track. The bottom of the track is open, so poop and shavings and such should fall out of it. But if there is not room below it, then there would be nowhere for it to fall. I foresee the floor shavings piling up and filling in the slot. But I think the door may still function well enough.

Mine has ever only gotten stuck shut once. There just happened to be a sloppy poop on the track on a night with a hard freeze, and that frozen poop acted like glue. Easy enough to fix, and not a very common occurrence.

thank you, very helpful. My problem is I literally have 29inches at most from the floor of the current doorway to the roof panel above the door, so I see that clutter mess being an issue quite often. I’ll have to do some more measuring and see if there’s a way to block the clutter from inside the doorway. I also can’t do a horizontal door because I have a window that would be completely blocked by it. More investigation needed!

 

[cavemanrich]

There are many options but I don't have a pix of your coop, so my suggestions are limited.
You can construct a hallway about 1 foot long, and the entrance can have a 6 inch step onto coop level floor. Second option is to have a barrier inside to keep the chicken litter from reaching door area. Would need to be looked at occasionally if it did build up.
Seeing you are in MN, and severe snow is a given, I would suggest avoiding the horizontal installation. Not very much snow/ice into the track could freeze up the door. If track is in vertical position, track likely to stay clear much better.

 

[Finnie]

thank you, very helpful. My problem is I literally have 29inches at most from the floor of the current doorway to the roof panel above the door, so I see that clutter mess being an issue quite often. I’ll have to do some more measuring and see if there’s a way to block the clutter from inside the doorway. I also can’t do a horizontal door because I have a window that would be completely blocked by it. More investigation needed!

With the auto door on the outside, and a horizontal board on the inside as a bedding barrier, that could work. The horizontal board would use up some of the space of the opening, but a lot of chickens could get in and out through a smaller opening. I think the Ador opening is 13” high. If you could position things so that the horizontal board only blocks say 3 or 4”, the 9-10” left ought to still be enough room for most chickens to get in and out. Of course, like @cavemanrich said, without knowing the layout of your coop, this idea is a shot in the dark and may not be workable. I like his “hallway” idea. It would be interesting to see what you have and what could be built to modify things so that it all could work.

 

[Whigru]

@cavemanrich and @Finnie thank you for your responses! I don’t have a current coop pic that shows the doorway from the inside but attached one from when it was being built that shows the outside. On the inside, it’s just the floor of the coop so the hallway idea, or a modification, could work. I plan to do some more homework this weekend.
In the picture, it’s the little pop door on the left side.

 

[RojoMarz]

Maybe I missed it, but are you planning interior or exterior mount? I don't think it will work exterior, if you still have the green roof panel on the run.

I have the Ador. Very easy to install and ours was fully ready to use, straight from the box. No setup was needed. I occasionally need to clear the bottom track, as we use pine shavings/mulch in the coop and it can get in the track.

 

[TwoShepherds]

I love having an auto door, and I am very happy with the ador. I've had it for over a year and I'm pretty sure I have changed the battery only once. My only nitpicky complaint is that if you press and hold down the button that closes the door it can change the setting from auto to manual and there is no easy way to tell what setting the door is on. Perhaps only an issue for those of us with pre-schoolers and toddlers who like to push buttons. I've just about trained ours not to touch the chicken coop door (I think, I hope).

 

[JessaDee]

This thread just reminded me that I forgot to close my coop door (thanks)!
guess I’ll be getting an omelet door ASAP

 

[Whigru]

Maybe I missed it, but are you planning interior or exterior mount? I don't think it will work exterior, if you still have the green roof panel on the run.

I have the Ador. Very easy to install and ours was fully ready to use, straight from the box. No setup was needed. I occasionally need to clear the bottom track, as we use pine shavings/mulch in the coop and it can get in the track.

I was planning an external mount but after I posted these pictures and did some more looking this morning, it won’t work (well, the Ador won’t). We have the supporting structure for the roof of the run and I didn’t even think about that being in the way.
I am going to do some measurements of the inside, because there’s room in there for the vertical sliding door, but I’m not sure I’m crazy about that option. Otherwise, I know there’s a door that opens on a hinge (Pullet Shut, maybe?) that could possibly work as an external mount.

 

[RojoMarz]

I was planning an external mount but after I posted these pictures and did some more looking this morning, it won’t work (well, the Ador won’t). We have the supporting structure for the roof of the run and I didn’t even think about that being in the way.
I am going to do some measurements of the inside, because there’s room in there for the vertical sliding door, but I’m not sure I’m crazy about that option. Otherwise, I know there’s a door that opens on a hinge (Pullet Shut, maybe?) that could possibly work as an external mount.

We briefly considered the hinge style. Ruled it out due to the direction it open was reversed of what we needed. Also, we have significant winds and decided it would not survive for long.

The Ador door is one of the largest and needs more head room. Keep searching and you will likely find a door that works for you.