Chickenguard premium with self locking door. Issue

[Seanny1717]

couple questions? Im new to chickens just got my first flock this year. They are all about 11 weeks old. I put this automatic door on. No issues. Been working great for 3 weeks. Now tonight all of a sudden the door didnt close. It was stuck in the UP position. I had to press down on it to get it moving. The coop was new. Amish built and it looks like they used fresh cut wood so it wasnt completly dry. The woods drying out now. Could the wood drying out and condensing maybe have forced the runners in just enough to squeeze the door at the top?

Also 2nd question? Can coons get the self locking door open when its closed? Anyone have issues or experience with this door? Seems like itd be pretty hard since theyd have to pull the string part with the plastic piece upwhile getting their hands under it at the same time. Almost seems like thered have to 2 coons to do it. Idk curious what others experiences are with this door. Seems pretty coon proof to me though.
If its not a good door for coons then whats best door to get thats gear driven to keep predators out?

Thanks for letting me be part of the community and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Just dont want to let my kids down and keep their chickens safe. Afraid theyll never forgive me lol

 

[Feather queen]

i have no idea sorry, i live in Australia so no coons here, but foxes, wild dogs/cats and hawks/eagles are our main problem. my chicken coop door is literally a doggy door, nothing fancy. I don't know much about coons but you could have the lock inside the coop

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I have had problems with this door for a while. I have the same one. It should br coon proof. I have them in my area but never had one get into my run or chicken coop. The door issue you are having happened to me to. For 3 weeks it worked great. Then it did the same thing. And in the cold winters here it doesnt open. And i have it on a timer because it wont open with the dawn to dusk setting. So its not because of the wood drying.

 

[TooCheep]

Not sure why the door stuck. It is possible that drying/warping is involved. I'd manually operate it a few times and see if you can re-create the problem. That will help you to spot where the door might be sticking. If it is, then you will have to work out some type of solution to allow the door to slide freely.

As for raccoons lifting the door, I have a good solution. The door is basically a thin aluminum sheet on a string- pretty easy to lift up. The solution is to put a board covering the bottom of the door so they can't reach it to lift. All they can touch is the flat exterior of the door and that is plenty strong to keep them out. I'm attaching a picture below. You can see the side door runners and the bottom protective board has a gap to allow the door bottom to be protected when down.

 

[Seanny1717]

I have had problems with this door for a while. I have the same one. It should br coon proof. I have them in my area but never had one get into my run or chicken coop. The door issue you are having happened to me to. For 3 weeks it worked great. Then it did the same thing. And in the cold winters here it doesnt open. And i have it on a timer because it wont open with the dawn to dusk setting. So its not because of the wood drying.

Yeah the lux setting didnt really work for me either. I set it and it seemed to close when it wanted. Some nights itd be pitch black some nights at dusk. I live in michigan so cold winters will be an issue too. Thinking im going to return it and find something else. Heard great things on the omelet door or the pulley door. Maybe ill try one of them.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Not sure why the door stuck. It is possible that drying/warping is involved. I'd manually operate it a few times and see if you can re-create the problem. That will help you to spot where the door might be sticking. If it is, then you will have to work out some type of solution to allow the door to slide freely.

As for raccoons lifting the door, I have a good solution. The door is basically a thin aluminum sheet on a string- pretty easy to lift up. The solution is to put a board covering the bottom of the door so they can't reach it to lift. All they can touch is the flat exterior of the door and that is plenty strong to keep them out. I'm attaching a picture below. You can see the side door runners and the bottom protective board has a

Yeah the lux setting didnt really work for me either. I set it and it seemed to close when it wanted. Some nights itd be pitch black some nights at dusk. I live in michigan so cold winters will be an issue too. Thinking im going to return it and find something else. Heard great things on the omelet door or the pulley door. Maybe ill try one of them.

I wish i could have returned it but i couldnt it had already been to long.

 

[Sueby]

I'm a bit confused - the self locking door comes with its own track, no? & that's whats warped? I have 2 of the self locking & one non locking where we did what @TooCheep did with the boards so a coon can't get its hands on the door. I've had no issues with any of my doors in 5 years. Maybe post a pic?

It does sound like wood may have warped somewhere - you should be able to remove the door & straighten the tracks even if you have to shim it or something. Again, maybe pics?

I also use the lux & have no issues there either. I've contacted chickenguard numerous time & they were extremely helpful. They even showed me how to override the lux settings so it would still work in a very dark part of the yard & even that one worked perfect with their instructions. Maybe try & contact them, they might be able to help & they will replace a door if it's not working as intended.

ETA their email: [email protected]