Automatic Chicken Door (for a unique situation)

[ChickenJoe76]

Hello all,

I might have a unique situation here that may or may not work with an automatic chicken door. Ultimately, if I can do this, I would love some recommendations on chicken doors that may work in my situation.

Situation:

I currently have a detached chicken run from my coop. I have a "shoot" that connects that run to the chicken door on my coop. The shoot is about 1/2 ft. larger all around than the hole in he coop for the chicken door. It then runs straight out to the run about 3-4ft away. It is completely enclosed so I don't really have any type of access to the actual door opening on the outside. I have hardware cloth and wood connected to the coop wall around the door so that is no way I can access the door from the outside without destroying the shoot.

Now that the temp has dropped and everything is just wet, the coop door has swelled and it is almost impossible to lift out without some assistance from a shovel inside of the coop to pry is open a bit. this is about to drive my wife and I crazy, so we decided to try and find options of an automatic chicken door.

Based off of the situation above, it appears our only option is to find an automatic chicken door that we can install from the inside. We would really love to be able to use the dawn/dusk system and other features like that, but from the units I have seen, the control box has to be installed on the same side as the door.

Aside from the control box needing to be installed outside and also control a door from the inside, is there an actual door system that can work from the inside? I have been looking at this unit called the Chicken Guard. It almost seems like it would work. Can this unit be installed on the outside of the wall and control the door to open and close on the inside?

Anyway, I won't ramble anymore. I would be curious to see what you guys say.

-Thanks

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I have a very similar setup - autodoor mounts inside that opens to a chute that takes them out to the run.

This is what I have, and it has been a great purchase. https://m.flemingoutdoors.com/hen-house-automatic-chicken-coop-door-advanced.html

You can run off battery, or electrical. Set your open/close offsets based off your GPS coordinates and it does the rest. Very happy.

NOTE: When I posted from my phone, I didn't see that it was out of stock at Flemming. It is also carried at Premiere1Supply. They show it with the solar adapter in the picture here, but in my case, I had too much shade, so I didn't go that route.
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/automatic-poultry-door

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I took a quick picture to help show how I have it installed. The outlet box off on the right is where I will plug it in once I finish up my electrical. Right now, running of battery. The control box is contained in that top yellow display panel that you see above the door. That simply unlatches and swings open and holds 4 AA batteries. In 6 months of usage, I replaced them once. If you have it plugged in to electrical, the batteries just become backup in case you lose power.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The Chicken Guard can be installed motor outside with the door inside, though you'd need to drill an access hole somewhere and maybe use pulleys as well to allow the pull cord to smoothly lift and drop the door. I have my entire unit installed inside since it was easier that way, and I use a timer and not the light sensor.

 

[jballone]

My homemade one is still going strong over a year later.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ken-coop-door-with-timer-solar-charger.73103/