Automatic Chicken Door

[Chefdmc]

Sorry about the losses you have had, that's always tough.

I've never used an automatic door but hopefully someone more experienced with them will come along with some advice (and I want to welcome you to BYC).

Thank you!

 

[Chefdmc]

Very sorry for your loss...that sucks. Mine is supposed to have a failsafe sort of like a garage door that if it hits something it will stop and go back up. I'm hoping that it works if this ever happens.

I have a light in mine that is charged with solar and only stays on for a bit after dark. It's enough for them to get in and get settled and then it goes out. I got it on amazon. Might be a good back up option for you.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XDQX7P3/?tag=backy-20

I think the back up light is a great idea! Thanks!

 

[ariri30]

That's why I went with a CoopTender door. It has a number of options--manual, timer, dawn to dusk or WiFi. I prefer to operate it remotely on WiFi so can open and close it when I'm sure the birds are safe--either to come out in the am or inside in the pm. I can access it from any place were I have an Internet connection using my iPhone. The only problem is if there is a power outage but since we have a standby generator that is taken care of. It does have a backup battery and solar panel capability but these require manual operation.

Mine works with my zip code. It changes the time depending on the season. As the day get longer or shorter the door adjust to when to close or open and I can add minutes to the open time and close time. I can also use my own time if I choose to. I didn’t get the WiFi because I have an amazon plug that works with Alexa/WiFi and I can see the lights go on and off when the WiFi signal gets weak. The coop is at the very end of the backyard and it’s too far for the signal

 

[Wendy Case]

So I decided to go away for the first time since I built my coop, almost 1 year ago. Of course that’s when tragedy happens, right? I had a chicken/dog sitter staying and keeping an eye on everything. I checked my run camera while I was away, only to notice one of my hens caught and killed in the auto door. Only to find out another hen was caught on the inside too! Couldn’t figure out why this happened.....had no issues after 10 months. Next night the door closed on another hen and killed her too. There was some reason why the flock wasn’t going inside at night. Had the door unplugged until I got home to see what was going on. I was of kinda baffled........guess what happened......the timer light bulb on the inside burned out and 1/2 of the flock refused to go inside to roost as usual. I got home and saw they were just hanging out in the coop doorway. So now, flock reduced from 9 to 6 hens, I don’t want to use the automatic door unless I have a secondary light of some sort in coop......Anyone here have any suggestions/similar experiences with hens not wanting to go inside a dark coop? I didn’t think I would have to install emergency lighting system for my coop!

I'm SO very sorry about your hens being killed by the door.
My automatic door goes back up if it won't close because of a chicken in the way, it's an Ador1. Plus my roosters have all the chickens in the coop right at sunset so I don't need light in the coop, only for my daily clump pickups. I think I would change the door to one that senses chickens in the way and rises. I rounded up my young chicks and their mom to go in the same time as the others and I did this daily until they 'got the picture' and they'd go to the corner next to the door with mom. Now I have no worries. Just ideas from my experience. The ADOR1 always has 10 options for you to customize the opening and closing times.
I also have five windows (one west facing) and a big old secure screen door (east facing) so all the light inside is natural. It's a big, new build coop having learned a lot of issues with my small old one.

 

[rosemarythyme]

No windows. Only a screened door in the warmer months.

If it's possible to add a window or two, I'd really suggest looking into that as an alternative to electrical light sources. It's just the most natural and user friendly option since you don't have to do anything other than install it.

I also chose a ChickenGuard door mainly because it has a battery option and timer option, as I don't trust a photosensitive door to stay open in an area like mine that can get such severe winter gloom that it could possibly trigger the door to close. I have heard of the possibility of such a door closing on top of a chicken due to cord breakage so I check the cord on it regularly for any signs of wear. Pretty cool to see that there's doors now that can run off a phone app, though I don't leave my WiFi on all the time so that wouldn't help me if I'm out.

 

[woodmort]

Mine works with my zip code. It changes the time depending on the season. As the day get longer or shorter the door adjust to when to close or open and I can add minutes to the open time and close time. I can also use my own time if I choose to. I didn’t get the WiFi because I have an amazon plug that works with Alexa/WiFi and I can see the lights go on and off when the WiFi signal gets weak. The coop is at the very end of the backyard and it’s too far for the signal

While mine seemed to work okay off my router,(coop it about 100 yds and on the opposite side of the house from the router) so I put in a wifi extender just to be safe.

BTW, the door speed can be set and I have mine so it opens/closes very, very slowly so the birds can get out of the way. On a nice day this ticks them off since they can't wait to get out and it seems, to them at least, like it takes forever.

Also, since there is a light in the coop it draws the birds in so if I wait until after dark to close it they're inside.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

So I decided to go away for the first time since I built my coop, almost 1 year ago. Of course that’s when tragedy happens, right? I had a chicken/dog sitter staying and keeping an eye on everything. I checked my run camera while I was away, only to notice one of my hens caught and killed in the auto door. Only to find out another hen was caught on the inside too! Couldn’t figure out why this happened.....had no issues after 10 months. Next night the door closed on another hen and killed her too. There was some reason why the flock wasn’t going inside at night. Had the door unplugged until I got home to see what was going on. I was of kinda baffled........guess what happened......the timer light bulb on the inside burned out and 1/2 of the flock refused to go inside to roost as usual. I got home and saw they were just hanging out in the coop doorway. So now, flock reduced from 9 to 6 hens, I don’t want to use the automatic door unless I have a secondary light of some sort in coop......Anyone here have any suggestions/similar experiences with hens not wanting to go inside a dark coop? I didn’t think I would have to install emergency lighting system for my coop!

That’s too bad, sorry for your horrible losses! I have windows in my coop and I do not use lights. My chickens always go in the coop before it gets dark, so thankfully that has not happened to me! I always set the door to come down about 30 minutes after it starts to get dark, because before I installed my automatic door I put a teddy bear under the door to see what would happen and I was really shocked! I couldn’t get the teddy bear out and that really frightened me!

 

[Al Gerhart]

We have a saying Oklahoma, animals are never completely safe around moving machinery and Oklahoma State Senators. Anytime you have something like an auto door or a treadle feeder, you are introducing risk. You have to offset any risk against the risk of not having the machine, predators getting to the birds in the coop, someone coming home too late to close the door, pest and vermin bringing disease to your flock in the case of a feeder. Animals are really good at getting themselves into trouble so pick your poison. It happens.

 

[EggWalrus]

Just like with all livestock, any thing is possible. This may burst some bubbles and pīss some people off, but this is reality, and life and death of livestock.
Too many people that are unprepared to raise livestock go buy them all nilly willy . They think they can magically turn livestock into pets. As much as I love my chickens and other livestock, they are dumb animals. There are a few that rise above the average intelligence of their specie.But even the smartest can't even come close to even dog intelligence. Let me rephrase that: Cat Intelligence.
That's not saying much. Cats have very narrow intelligence but even some of the smartest birds, Ravens, have very narrow intelligence. They have certain skill sets that can be considered intelligent,but they can't compare to stupid cats. (And don't give me no crap, this ain't BackyardCats.com)
Like it or not, anyone foolish enough to speculate on raising any kind of livestock must be willing to accept losses. That's just the way it goes. If you don't agree, go back to Bliss Ninny Land mentality and pretend you never lost any animal under your charge.
I'm not getting on any one persons ass, just stating simple facts of life and death.
And you can't have life without death.

 

[N F C]

Sorry about the losses you have had, that's always tough.

I've never used an automatic door but hopefully someone more experienced with them will come along with some advice (and I want to welcome you to BYC).