chicken door

[blueridgefarmer]

Help! All our animals free range, and our girls do have their own coop, but our pig keeps getting in there and making a huge mess, much to my dismay I have had to lock him up, but hate to do this, he will be to big soon to get in the coop, but not soon enough!!!! How big door the door to the coop actually need to be? I would like to make our door smaller so he can't get in.

 

[sunflour]

12 inches by 12 inches is large enough for the chicken door. Hope the pig cannot get thru that.

 

[sunflour]

Another thought, make sure the chicken door is high and use a ladder that the pig cannot climb?

 

[henless]

I made my pop door a foot off the ground. The chickens can easily jump that high to get in/out. I picked up a cutting board from Walmart and used it as my door.

I gave them a ramp to get up to the pop door for a few days to give them the idea.






Now they just jump in/out with no trouble. I don't remember the opening size, but I can measure it if you need me to.

You can make the opening higher if you need to.

 

[blueridgefarmer]

Thanks for the input, our coop door is probably 12x12, but on the ground. I figured we needed it higher, lesson learned ...now when I see coops with ramps up to a door I know why!!!!! I was hoping to put a piece of wood making it smaller but don't want to mess my girls up. Maybe I can get my husband to close up the old door and cut a new one higher up. Hahaha probably by that time the pig will be big enough not to fit!

 

[RonP]

Mine is a good 2 feet off the floor with a nice ramp in the run.

Inside is a 2x4 "roost" that leads to the other side of the coop that T's off at the nesting boxes.

Birds can exit nesting boxes, walk the 2x4 straight out to the run, without ever touching the coop floor.

 

[Brooder Jim]

Hi. I'm a newbie and this is my first post. Have six one week old Rhode Island Reds in brooder now. Can someone tell me what "POP" stands for in chicken door? Thanks, Brooder Jim

 

[Blooie]

Hi. I'm a newbie and this is my first post. Have six one week old Rhode Island Reds in brooder now. Can someone tell me what "POP" stands for in chicken door? Thanks, Brooder Jim

Welcome! I'm not sure that it stands for anything, Jim, except that it's a door designed for the chickens to pop in and out between coop and run or coop and outdoors. Hey, maybe we could have a contest and see who comes up with the best definition....like, Poultry Out Persimmons or some such nonsense! But I digress.....the pop door is usually designed to be big enough for the chickens to fit through easily. Those of us tasked with the feeding, the watering, egg gathering and poop scooping rely on the people door to get in and out. In the beginning I was thinking, "Why the heck do the stupid chickens need a separate door? Why can't I just build one door and have it used by people and by the chickens?" Now I know - without a separate door for them in my situation, I'd have to go all the way through the run to get inside the coop. I wouldn't be able to close them up in the coop if I'm working in the run and vice versa.

I'm sure there are a million other reasons, but off the top of my head being able to close off a section of the coop or run for working without any escaping chickens is prime for me. When I let them outside, I just open up the people door in the run and let 'em go. My pop door into the run stays open 24/7 unless I need to close them in temporarily. I even kept it open all winter. Oh, and my pop door is just a doggie door I scored at Habitat for Humanity Restore for $15.00.

 

[PapaChaz]

Blooie, the way mine line up and wait for it to open, it has to be poultry .....OUT....... please

and if I lock em out while I'm in there working, I'm sure they have a few "other" acronyms running through their little bird brains the way they line up to get back IN, LOL probably something to do with 'the stupid human has us locked OUT again and the feeder is IN'...........

 

[Brooder Jim]

Thanks, Like your definition!