Coop Door

[Smiley101]

Hello! I have seen cut plastic curtains that hangs in the coop door. Almost resembles a large dock maintenance door. It's suppose to act as a wind barrier. Is there any specific type of heavy duty plastic and wood I should use to reconstruct this barrier? Also will my flock realize how to enter and exit through it?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Smiley101 Welcome To BYC

Are you talking about the pop door? If you have photos of your coop that would be helpful

Do you have a solid pop door that you can close at night or a secured run to keep out night time predators?

I'm not a coop builder, but have seen where people use dog house door flaps - you can find those online or at pet stores. I don't remember where I saw it, but someone used heavy duty shower curtain liner to create a flap door too.

If you can convince one chicken to use it, usually the others will follow.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Have seen a couple folks do this over the years, was quite successful.

You'd need a plastic sheeting that was stiff enough to stay in place yet flexible enough for the birds to push thru. Clear would be best.
I would suggest going to a good fabric store, they usually have clear vinyl in the upholstery dept.

Sizing the strip widths would be another design consideration.
I'd guess about 3" wide and overlap them 1/2".

Installing them slowly from the outside edges of the opening towards the center will allow the birds to get used to them being there, they won't like it at first...or you could tie back the center strips at first and slowly let a couple more down every few days to a week....they'll eventually get used to pushing thru it.

How effective this would be might depend on how much wind you are trying to deflect.
My pop door faces due west and gets hammered by wind and snow.
I had a couple spare window panels so set up a 'glass foyer' to block the weather from entering the coop and to protect the pop door itself from warpage.

 

[Smiley101]

Hi @Smiley101 Welcome To BYC

Are you talking about the pop door? If you have photos of your coop that would be helpful

Do you have a solid pop door that you can close at night or a secured run to keep out night time predators?

I'm not a coop builder, but have seen where people use dog house door flaps - you can find those online or at pet stores. I don't remember where I saw it, but someone used heavy duty shower curtain liner to create a flap door too.

If you can convince one chicken to use it, usually the others will follow.

Hi @Smiley101 Welcome To BYC

Are you talking about the pop door? If you have photos of your coop that would be helpful

Do you have a solid pop door that you can close at night or a secured run to keep out night time predators?

I'm not a coop builder, but have seen where people use dog house door flaps - you can find those online or at pet stores. I don't remember where I saw it, but someone used heavy duty shower curtain liner to create a flap door too.

If you can convince one chicken to use it, usually the others will follow.

 

[Smiley101]

Thank you. The run is locked up and secured. However the coop door is just left open as seen in the picture. When the wind is just right it whips the straw bedding all around. Then the ladies like to push it all out the door. I wanted to have a barrier for wind, rain and snow from just entering the coop.

I never thought of either a dog door flap or shower curtain action. I just know I didn't want to use anything toxic either.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I am by far a coop builder or designer I can only give an idea or two of what I would do. I would place a board inside the door to provide a lip to help hold the bedding in when the girls scratch around- it won't stop it completely, but it may reduce the amount that gets pushed out. Depending on the size of the board you may have to re-adjust where the ramp attaches.

Thinking out of the box here, you don't have much overhang on that side, so I can see where rain/snow would blow in and you don't want wet bedding. You could extend the overhang on your roof or add an awning over the pop door to help shelter that(?) I'm sure someone else will have a better idea.

Now, for me - I like to have an actual door in that opening to make nighttime even more secure - doors are secured and windows have 1/4" hardware coverings.
I'm not nitpicking your housing at all, but your fencing has large spaces where a small predator could get into the run and enter the coop unless there's a secured door there.
This would also block nighttime drafts/wind so your roosting ladies are more comfortable.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Smiley101]

I am by far a coop builder or designer I can only give an idea or two of what I would do. I would place a board inside the door to provide a lip to help hold the bedding in when the girls scratch around- it won't stop it completely, but it may reduce the amount that gets pushed out. Depending on the size of the board you may have to re-adjust where the ramp attaches.

Thinking out of the box here, you don't have much overhang on that side, so I can see where rain/snow would blow in and you don't want wet bedding. You could extend the overhang on your roof or add an awning over the pop door to help shelter that(?) I'm sure someone else will have a better idea.

Now, for me - I like to have an actual door in that opening to make nighttime even more secure - doors are secured and windows have 1/4" hardware coverings.
I'm not nitpicking your housing at all, but your fencing has large spaces where a small predator could get into the run and enter the coop unless there's a secured door there.
This would also block nighttime drafts/wind so your roosting ladies are more comfortable.

Just some thoughts.
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Thank you for all the helpful comments. This is great for me to make changes and make my ladies happier.