Automatic door and setting timers...

[bekachick]

Hi there! I am in the process of setting up my first chicken coop and yards. I am in love with the idea of an automatic opening door! But I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a brand that has a timer that lets you open and shut the doors at certain times, more than once a day?

For example...open at 6.30 am to let chooks out, shut at 8am. Open at 5 pm to let chooks in, shut at 7pm.

The reason for this is I'd like to keep daytime predators out of the nesting boxes and coop... like goannas and carpet pythons, which will be a big issue where I live.

Thank you!

 

[Pyxis]

!

I have a Chickenguard, which I love, but the timers can only be set for one open and close a day.

Which really is probably all you want. If you close the coop, you're locking the chickens out. That means they can't go in if it rains, if they're trying to escape a predator - or if they need to lay an egg. No point in trying to keep predators out of the nesting box if the birds can't get in to lay in the first place. They don't lay first thing in the morning, they lay throughout the day.

 

[Dayrel]

Welcome to BYC!

I also use a Chickenguard. Not sure how well your proposed setup would work. If the door is open 3 1/2 hours per day, you'd still potentially have serious daytime predator problems.

The most common use of automatic doors is to protect against nocturnal predators and leave the coop open for the chickens to enter/leave as desired during the day including to lay eggs.

Good luck coming up with a workable solution. You might want to post a question in the thread for your country (Australia)? They might have other solutions for daytime predator problems.