Chicken door size?

[princetonpeeps]

Hello all! In the finishing stages of our new coop! We're gonna put some chicken doors in, not sure how big to make em....

Right now we've got barred rocks, but may be getting into a few larger breeds as well. How big you think we should make them? Anyone have any good/bad thoughts about those automatic doors?

Thanks in advance!

_Josh and Danielle

 

[bingrancher]

i made mine 12 inches squared and I see alot of people use that size for most breeds. If you dont want to get in the run to open the door you could always buy a pulley and attach it to the door with a rope and eye bolt. Good luck

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I made my doors big (12"W x 20"H), which is great in summer because, when open, they let plenty of air circulate. In winter, though, they let in plenty of cold drafts, so I solved that problem by making an "insert" from scrap plywood that I screwed to the interior door frame. The opening on it is only 9" x 9", but even my big fat Australorp gets through it just fine. When I want to remove it I'll just unscrew it.

I also use a length of paracord strung thru some screw eyes to open and close the door from outside the run. It's nice not to have to walk through chicken poop to open/close the door. I also got some of those el- cheapo magnetic catches like you use on kitchen cabinets for the pop doors. They aren't REAL strong, but they do keep the wind from blowing the door open.

Except in cold weather I don't worry too much about closing the pop doors because my runs and coops are completely predator proof... that way the girls get up and go to bed on their own schedule.

 

[Dee Montano]

Thanks for the info. I was happy to hear that the Australorps could make it through a 9 x 9 if necessary - have Orpingtons, too and was worried that we made the door too small.

 

[Hokum Coco]

My pop door is 9x12 inches guillotine type inside track. It works fine. I am happy with it. Any size chicken can get through it easily.

I wish I would have cut the bottom of the door about 10 inches up from the floor instead of 6 inches (if I could do over).

 

[Dee Montano]

Why do you wish the door was up higher? We use deep litter, so maybe litter will go out when the chickens go out, I don't know yet.

Would you have steps up to the door for the chickens?

 

[locoguru]

12wx15h and flush to the floor of the coop.

 

[Hokum Coco]

My chickens dig and scratch around in the deep litter (I use wood pellets that eventually turns into sawdust) and in my set up it would be more advantages to have the door up higher too keep the bottom track free of sawdust. You figure you have 4 - 6 inches of litter on your floor you would want the bottom of your door to be 4 to 6 inches above the litter and they are in and out the door God knows how many time in the run of a day. If it was at floor level in may cause the litter to pour out the pop door possibly and need constant cleaning.

Just saying in my small set up with a foot print of only 4x8 if I could do over I would put my door at least 10 inches above my floor 6 inches is barely adequet.

No I would not provide steps to get out I do have a ramp to get in. Their nest boxes are 24 inches off the floor and they can hop up into those with ease. From there they spring up another 24 inches to their roost.

 

[blinkin]

We also raised our door up and just installed a ramp and they seem perfectly content with using it. This way we can use the deep litter method and don't have to worry about spillage.

 

[Dee Montano]

thanks for the info