Door Size for Ducks

[Krazy Duck Lady]

I think that is too small... my door opening is 24" x 24" for my Silver Appleyards (heavyweight breed). Runners get pretty tall I believe. My door could probably shrink down by 4" on either side though.

During the winter I get approximately 8 hours of light. How many times could the door be opened and closed with the power your solar panel generates and saves over the course of a winter's day?

Solar power with a motion detector is tricky with animals in general. I hung up a solar powered light near the door so I can easily see what I'm doing when I change our the water and the feed when I get home at night and noticed by the time I got there, the light was dead as the ducks would continually trigger it during the twilight hours. For this reason I now turn it off & right after I use it, let it charge up all day and then turn it on once I arrive at the coop.

I'd be concerned that your ducks would use up all the power for the door and not be able to get in when necessary at twilight. Also, a couple cloudy days and your automatic door system may also run into issues as it probably takes a good amount of juice to raise a door.

smithmal

What make and model is your door? I haven't been very successful at finding one that large, and as I have Silver Appleyards as well, I'm sure the bigger door is the best option. They can be BIG boys! Lol

 

[Sosalty]

Gosh, I've used 4 auto doors this last 6 months. 1 uses plug in electricity and that seems to help. 1 tries to offer options and combines settings; has to be defaulted and reprogramed multiple times to sort out. "RunChicken" has been simple and reliable but has too small an opening. I've recently installed the ADOR2 turkey door. At 12.5" X 20" it works perfectly for my 6.5lb Muscovy. The problem I had was 2 ducks would try to enter at the same time, start to get stuck, then back up a few inches, squabble at each other, and then decide they didn't want to go in after all, just sit down blocking the other duck from entering. Like watching a cartoon; hope you have sensible ducks.

The 10.5"x12.5" may be OK if installed just right with a little height. Doubtful about some of the big drakes but a 10lb duck should be OK. I think with the low power requirement, (ie; opens once in the am and closes once in the pm) for an auto door, even a small battery and a 5 watt+ solar charger should work. As others have said, you'll want someone to check the door daily when you go on vacation.

 

[Krazy Duck Lady]

Gosh, I've used 4 auto doors this last 6 months. 1 uses plug in electricity and that seems to help. 1 tries to offer options and combines settings; has to be defaulted and reprogramed multiple times to sort out. "RunChicken" has been simple and reliable but has too small an opening. I've recently installed the ADOR2 turkey door. At 12.5" X 20" it works perfectly. The problem I had was 2 ducks would try to enter at the same time, start to get stuck, then back up a few inches, squabble at each other, and then decide they didn't want to go in after all, just sit down blocking the other duck from entering. Like watching a cartoon; hope you have sensible ducks.

The 10.5"x12.5" may be OK if installed just right with a little height. Not sure about some of the drakes but a 10-12lb duck should be OK. I think with the low power requirements for an auto door, even a small battery and a 5 watt+ solar charger should work. As others have said, you'll want someone to check the door daily when you go on vacation.

Are ANY ducks sensible?? I've adopted 5 Silver Appleyards that were hatched as a 2nd grade class project, turns out they are all 5 males. Beautiful big boys to be sure, but our love for them comes for their comedic value around our place, not their brains. My sons and I are in the process of building them a house that I think will be pretty cool, but to be honest, I'm not sure if they will be 'sensible' about using it, and not just opting to live under it. Lol Thanks for the info, and any advice you want to give about any of it would be valued!