Auto door crushes hen

[Wolfiehowl229]

I don't take a chance with my chickens. I'm old fashioned so if rather put them away at dark than have them crushed... I am very sorry for your loss but I would switch to a normal door until you get it figured out and try it with a foot ball first or on a testing coop that does not gold your hens. Best of luck

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm a worry wart and always thought that auto doors were not the best thing. I figured they would close and some late comers would be stuck outside and get eaten, or frozen or whatever the weather.

For me the auto door is mostly for opening in the morning (since I'm a late riser) rather than for closing in the evening. And in case we go on vacation it saves the neighbor from having to cross through our yard in the dark to shut the door. Even after adding the door we still usually check to make sure everyone's inside before the timer is set to close.

 

[Myrth]

That is awful! I have been thinking recently about an automatic door, also for early morning opening and for vacations. But I had hesitated, worried it might kill a bird. This thread is giving me second thoughts. I am following with interest to see if there are safe solutions.

Sorry you lost the hen.

 

[Bald Bee Man]

I am shutting of the auto close until I see these new hens are not hanging at the door like the one did last night. I'll manualy shut it. I need auto close due to just not home each night/ 365...
I have ideas for ticklers to move them along, I'll post when I get it done ...

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Wait...... so did the chicken die?

 

[April’s Zoo]

Anyone ever heard of a auto coop door crushing a chicken ?
I built mine, knowing this could happen but never expected it to....

I just bought an auto chicken door and it is still sitting in the box.....hopefully that does not happen with my door!

Homemade/ DIY vs. pre-made, commercially available.....

I wonder do the purchased doors have any sort of safety mechanism..... like a garage door has?

If making your own, could you add something like that?

Garage doors typically employ a beam of light across the opening to prevent the door from operating if something is in the way....
Older doors used pressure switches to reverse the door if they met resistance from an object that could be crushed.

I’m pretty sure the doohickies that project the light beam are available separately as replacements for damaged ones.

I think if it is uncomfortable in the doorway they won't go in at all. I'm a worry wart ...

A safety mechanism like the garage door uses would avoid this problem.

I don’t know enough about how they work or how they could be modified to know if anything like what I’m thinking could even be used. I’m mostly just throwing it out there, because the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the OP’s post was the old ads for garage doors that showed it reversing when it came in contact with a roll of paper towels.... from there I thought about my own garage and how it wouldn’t close today because something had bumped the light beam box and moved it just enough to cause it to think something was in the way.

 

[mountain chicken]

Homemade/ DIY vs. pre-made, commercially available.....

I wonder do the purchased doors have any sort of safety mechanism..... like a garage door has?

If making your own, could you add something like that?

Garage doors typically employ a beam of light across the opening to prevent the door from operating if something is in the way....
Older doors used pressure switches to reverse the door if they met resistance from an object that could be crushed.

I’m pretty sure the doohickies that project the light beam are available separately as replacements for damaged ones.

A safety mechanism like the garage door uses would avoid this problem.

I don’t know enough about how they work or how they could be modified to know if anything like what I’m thinking could even be used. I’m mostly just throwing it out there, because the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the OP’s post was the old ads for garage doors that showed it reversing when it came in contact with a roll of paper towels.... from there I thought about my own garage and how it wouldn’t close today because something had bumped the light beam box and moved it just enough to cause it to think something was in the way.

I was just sitting here and had that very same thought,
I've seen several types of the doors each had a stainless steel door all seemed very heavy ,

 

[rosemarythyme]

Homemade/ DIY vs. pre-made, commercially available.....

I wonder do the purchased doors have any sort of safety mechanism..... like a garage door has?

If making your own, could you add something like that?

I know that someone on BYC made their own and they did find a way to put in some sort of mechanism that would stop the door if a chicken got in the way. They also had electromagnets to hold the door shut once it was closed. Pretty thorough design. I don't recall who the member was though.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm with Diva about this; so sorry about your bird!
I don't have an automatic door, just me. It's been fine for a long time.
The garage doors can and have killed kittens especially; a critter too small to trigger that fail-safe mechanisms. Yuck!
Mary

 

[April’s Zoo]

The garage doors can and have killed kittens especially; a critter too small to trigger that fail-safe mechanisms. Yuck!
Mary

This is why the safety controls changed many years back. It was found that with some very small children, and animals and even some adults there wasn’t enough resistance to trigger the reversal. The new versions include a beam of light that functions as a fail-safe — if it’s interrupted, then the door won’t operate. Between the two mechanisms, there will be virtually no failures.
For the purposes of an automatic coop door, the light beam would likely be the easiest to integrate into the design. There’s no real need for redundancy.