How many coop doors for 1000 chickens?

[Pullet-Shut Chicken Doors]

One thing to factor in is if there are any requirements in your state. Some require so many inches of door per 100 birds. The good news is that you really don't need that many. Yes, it will be a 'rush' in the mornings. You can easily get 5+ birds per second coming out if they're rushing. And the birds figure out their pecking order for who's first. Let's say all the birds want out in 2 minutes. And say it's only 2 birds per second rushing out (very slow pace). That's still 240 birds per door. Four doors would accommodate 1000 birds. But some of the birds will be on the nest boxes, some still on the roosts, some eating/drinking... so it's not every bird coming out at once. Here is the first video I found searching, 29 birds come out a small door in 16 seconds:

. The pace isn't that rushed, and it's a small door. Our 'standard' Pullet-Shut door is 11" wide & 15" tall, they'll double up coming out. Our "Turkey" door is 15" wide and 20" tall, they'll be coming out 4 at a time with it (2 flying above & 2 below if rushing)!! I'd recommend starting with 4 doors. See how the birds handle it, and you can add more if it's needed.

 

[Mouthpear]

I'm planning to build 40ft x 80ft chicken coop for about 500-1000 egg layers. The chickens will free range daily outside in the forest.

How many automatic coop doors should I get? Or is there any other automatic system, so i don't have to get too many doors if i need them?

Cheers!

First without having more details like

• Are all the birds to be let out all at once?
• Placement of the doors: are they all on one side or multiple sides.
• Power: is there or will there be mains power 120/220v AC to the building or will you be using any other type as in solar, wind.....
• Building type. How is it framed?
• Your skills and levels. Can you weld? Do you have any problems reading practical wiring diagrams?
• How do you want it to operate. Timer, photocell (dawn Till Dusk), Wifi smart switch, irrigation system controller?

Knowing those things and more will greatly help anyone help you better.

So Going on what you have said so far......

You don't need "many" doors you need larger doors. The simple, run of the mill, Linear Actuator can handle up to 225 lbs.

DC12V 12inch Stroke Linear Actuator with Mounting Bracket 900N(225lbs) Maximum Lift 10mm/s for Recliner TV Table Lift Massage Bed

So if you have a building with 16" on center studs you can make a doors like in these videos I made for another Member on this site.

• Video 1
• Video 2

So instead of just two opening you can expand it to at least four.

You can make the door a swing up door with hinges but using drawer slides on the sides makes it much more secure and your frame does not have to be beefed up.

Drawbacks can be that you will have to use a larger battery of you are going to open all the doors at once. A thicker wire gauge will also be need to supply the current. We can discuss that later if you want to go this route.


You can all so make all the doors, sting doors and use a Harbor Freight ATV winch or amazon ATV winch.

You can make one long door or several doors all connected to the winch cable. This will work great for a nice heavy hinged door or an up and down sliding door. The limits would not be hard to make either.

Alternatively you can use a worm gear winch and a windshield wiper motor (or DC12V Reversible Worm Gear Motor), if you have welding and/or fabrication skills.

In the same concept: You can use a garage door opener. It basically comes with everything you need. Limits, anti crush, WiFi controller, Remote control, Manual push buttons, backup battery. Again you can make it control one large door or several smaller doors. Can be mounted just like a regular garage door opener, or against the wall and use some pulleys. No need for the springs since the door will on be anywhere from 14" 16" tall to 10' to 20'.


If interested in any of these possible solutions let me know. I can draw up a few diagrams.

 

[speedy2020]

Well I don't know the whole story but I may be that they have several different types of birds and want to keep the separate. So one group gets let out on certain days and they alternate the groups.

OR Each group has their own separate run.

OR there are several runs called paddocks where you have different thing planted or just separated, so that so many birds will decimate the growth in a short amount of time, so to avoid that you alternate the paddocks.

I did a quick summary on the Kastty automatic chicken door on this site. Ypu can see it meet your need. The door timer is very simple easy to setup and do support solar. The Sibays automatic chicken door look similar with Kastty and cheap now through Amazon Black Friday deal $63.xx. I wouldn't touch anything with 2x 1.5v battery door because not enough power (2x 1.5v=3v) and dealing with programmable app.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/kastty-automatic-chicken-coop-door.12113/

 

[Mouthpear]

Ypu can see it meet your need.

TY but I have no need of one. I make my own. LOL. I'm sure you meant that for the OP.

 

[LuciferRoo]

I'm planning to build 40ft x 80ft chicken coop for about 500-1000 egg layers. The chickens will free range daily outside in the forest.

How many automatic coop doors should I get? Or is there any other automatic system, so i don't have to get too many doors if i need them?

Cheers!

How about one?
A garage door.

 

[Pullet-Shut Chicken Doors]

How about one?
A garage door.

"LuciferRoo"... best/truest/funniest name I think I've ever seen! Had more than my share of them, but still love them.

 

[LuciferRoo]

"LuciferRoo"... best/truest/funniest name I think I've ever seen! Had more than my share of them, but still love them.

LOL.
I gave him that name after 3rd time he drew blood. First two times it was my hand as I gave the food or treats from my hand. I thought it was an accident as he was still very young.
Then he stretched about two feet to get my leg. He put a gash just above my knee that was all the way across the front of my leg.
That's when I named him Lucifer.
That was over a year ago. He has never really attacked me beside that incident. Actually runs to me when he sees me and "talks" to me.
He's a strange bird, but I like him.

 

[Stephine]

Most serious case of chicken math I have ever encountered!

 

[JuliosRun]

I'm planning to build 40ft x 80ft chicken coop for about 500-1000 egg layers.

Did you get what you needed?

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

That is a lot of chickens! I would make sure the doors are about 2 - 2 1/2 feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide in order for the chickens to fit through without any problems. Think about 20 chickens a door maybe even less.
You would also want to make sure that its a door that makes sure to let the chickens in/out like it should. Not leave the door open until midnight for raccoons to get into your chicken coop and kill 1000 chickens.