Automatic chicken door

[CoyoteMagic]

I have the Foys and love it. Was great for going on vacation. Chickens could come and go from the run and coop and I didn't have to find someone to let them out and lock them up every day!

However with the way I'm setting up my new coop and run, I may not be needing it anymore. I'm thinking of selling it on craigslist

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Quote:
This is the concern that I also have. The poster here is asking, what is keeping a predator from putting a little palm/paw pressure on the door itself and pushing it up(not in)? There is nothing mechanically holding the door down. If you can put a little pressure on the door with your fingertips and push the door up, seems a sly coon can do it also. We've all seen things they can do.

Edit: spelling, not enough coffee yet...LOL.

 

[owler]

Quote:
This is the concern that I also have. The poster here is asking, what is keeping a predator from putting a little palm/paw pressure on the door itself and pushing it up(not in)? There is nothing mechanically holding the door down. If you can put a little pressure on the door with your fingertips and push the door up, seems a sly coon can do it also. We've all seen things they can do.

Edit: spelling, not enough coffee yet...LOL.

That is what my thoughts were Marty. It seems to me a better design would be that the door should pull up from the bottom to close. Of course this would mean the pop door would have to be higher.

Anyone is free to market this idea if I get a free sample.

 

[gsim]

If worried about a coon lifting the door, why not use a pair of 2x2's at bottom to form a channel for the thing to drop into. That would do it for stopping any lifting. They could not get their paws under the door edge that way.

I just have two manual guillotine-style pop doors. Mine use 3/32" cable and overhead pulleys. I used 1/2' osb for them, which would be heavy for a drapery motor. I see that the commercial ones are mostly 1/8" Aluminum plate.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

A channel at the bottom of the door opening wouldn't keep a predator from pushing up from the door surface itself. Especially the lightweight doors that most of these operators require. The door going into my coop is on a pull rope extending to the outside of the run. The door is made with 2 pieces of 12"x18" 3/4"plywood screwed together. The door is heavy enough to keep from being pushed up just by pushing the door surface itself, but is is also too much for a motor such as a drapery motor to lift. If you counterweight the heavy door to use a drapery motor you've just defeated the purpose of using a heavy enough door to keep a predator from pushing it up.