automatic door with food and water delay?

[peartreehens]

So I've been wanting to install an automatic door on our coop. We have an enclosed run (1/2" hardware cloth on walls and roof, buried in an apron etc etc), and haven't closed the pop door yet. However, it gets pretty cold here (sometimes below zero) in the winter, so I think I'll need to install one for climate-control, if not for predators.

Our feed and water are in the run, not the coop. Is it a problem if we use supplemental lighting but the door doesn't open allowing them to access food/water for a couple of hours? I understand lots of doors have a supplemental light that works on the same photosensor with the door, so the light comes on 8 hrs after sunset and then the door opens at sunrise, whenever that happens to be (could be 4 + hrs later, I'd guess). Will this be a problem? There isn't much room in the coop for food/water, so I'm trying to sort out what needs to happen.

For what it's worth, the pop door opens into a U-shaped area bounded by a 3-4' high retaining wall with the ground above sloping up and away, and a 6' fence about 15' from the top of the retaining wall. It also has two large pines overhanging, so it's about as protected an opening as it could be. All of our girls are cold-hardy breeds.
thanks so much.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

They will really enjoy a few hours of light in their coop when it is dark so much of the day in the winter, to eat and drink more. You will get more eggs this way too if you employ 14 hours a day of light total. If they have light in the coop they will need food and water too to avoid picking. Your water will stay more unfrozen this way too. You can use a heated dog bowl or buy a heated chicken waterer for this purpose, as well.