How reliable are automatic coop doors?

[Jakemedic]

When I contacted them they sent this response. what is ironic, if I clicked on “buy again” it sent me to the exact same door being sold by the other company.

I must reply to this post that since it’s been above 20 degrees, I reinstalled the door and it is functioning as advertised. Maybe the extreme cold took its toll on the door? With that said, the ladies and I are much happier with the door working than not working. . That is Millie and Chip checking out my driver I used to reinstall their automatic door. Such curious creatures! They are my clowns. They pull on my cargo pants while I’m sitting in my lawn chair and when I go to pet them they run away squawking!

 

[Donna-NC]

Hi, Donna....does the Farmlite have a manual override where you could close it manually in the event of a "no power" situation?

It has a battery backup option - it comes with a little box that plugs into the power input on the door that the electric one normally goes into and it'll run the door for like 3 days. I keep the backup in a ziploc with batteries next to our door to the backyard, power goes out I pop the batteries into it and plug it into the coop door and hit the "Test" to make the door work until I get it's clock reset, once I do that I'm out of the equation and it'll operate as normal. When the power comes back on I just swap in the electric and the batteries out.
This coop door will also run on solar and the site and manual are VERY thorough in directions and the owner EXTREMELY helpful!

 

[Donna-NC]

By no power do you mean dead batteries? Board not supplying power? Manual as in some sort of hand crank?

The link to amazon, that was given in the initial post, says it has a battery backup.

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However If you go watch this video that this wonderful, gorgeous woman named @Boujee Beaks Hen Haven , with the voice that will make you swoon. She talks about the battery backup and what happened with hers.

The last time we lost power (a few weeks ago actually) I went out and pulled the electric cord out of the door socket, plugged in the battery pack set it up on a little shelf to the left of the top of the door (keep a screwdriver and flashlight there) and reset the clock so it would work. When the power was restored, I unplugged the backup and put the electric power cord back in. Easy-peasy.

 

[LaurelC]

One thing I don’t understand about automatic doors is who’s to say all the chickens went inside before the door closes? What if the door closes and a few weren’t ready to go inside? They’re stuck outside ?

I mean, yeah. The Ador1 has a "last call" mode you can set up where something like 15 minutes after the door has closed for the night, it'll beep a few times and then open back up again for 5 minutes or something, to let the hens that were late to come home into the coop.

 

[Mouthpear]

One thing I don’t understand about automatic doors is who’s to say all the chickens went inside before the door closes? What if the door closes and a few weren’t ready to go inside? They’re stuck outside ?

There is always that chance. And that's the chance you will have to take, when you decide to go auto. Here is the thing tho. Would you rather lose the entire flock or just one or two stragglers, that day that you don't make it home in time, or you forget to go out and close the coop? Me I would rather not lose all of them.

 

[Mouthpear]

I mean, yeah. The Ador1 has a "last call" mode you can set up where something like 15 minutes after the door has closed for the night, it'll beep a few times and then open back up again for 5 minutes or something, to let the hens that were late to come home into the coop.

I like the ADOR1 and that it has the Last Call feature but to me I really don't see the point. Most chickens, that don't make it the first time, will usually decide to go find selter as high as possible and won't sit there in front of the door just in case it opens back up.

 

[Australorpfamily]

One thing I don’t understand about automatic doors is who’s to say all the chickens went inside before the door closes? What if the door closes and a few weren’t ready to go inside? They’re stuck outside ?

We have a farmlite vertical door, and I always set the timer to close way after I knew they'd all be in.

It has two plug in ports- solar, battery pack and or electric. We did unplug it for the recent artic blast because I honestly wasn't sure how it would handle the negatives and didn't want that to be an issue, I already had others lol

 

[Australorpfamily]

It has a battery backup option - it comes with a little box that plugs into the power input on the door that the electric one normally goes into and it'll run the door for like 3 days. I keep the backup in a ziploc with batteries next to our door to the backyard, power goes out I pop the batteries into it and plug it into the coop door and hit the "Test" to make the door work until I get it's clock reset, once I do that I'm out of the equation and it'll operate as normal. When the power comes back on I just swap in the electric and the batteries out.
This coop door will also run on solar and the site and manual are VERY thorough in directions and the owner EXTREMELY helpful!

I really like our Farmlite. Have you tested it in extreme cold yet? During our artic blast I unplugged for fear of us freezing due to our negative highs. I just didn't want another issue lol

 

[Donna-NC]

I really like our Farmlite. Have you tested it in extreme cold yet? During our artic blast I unplugged for fear of us freezing due to our negative highs. I just didn't want another issue lol

Well I live in NC so it doesn't get extremely cold here, we get less than 10 nights total per season of very low double digit cold. We've had no problems with the door that were the fault of the door.
Losing power, not the door's fault; chickens knocking bedding into the tracks, definitely not the door's fault. When the birds do that it continues to close but not completely so there's a very small gap at the bottom. I keep a small flat head screwdriver on the little shelf next to the door and just flick it all out of the track and it's good.
I also put up a waterproof list of 12 hour to 24 hour conversions since the door timers operate on 24 times. That makes my life easier when I have to adjust for time changes or reset clocks.
Now the husband wants to put in a large bin feeder. I understand the desire to not have to refill feeders every other day. But I'm hesitant to put in a feeder that holds 50lbs of feed for 8 hens, especially during the hot, humid summers we get. I'm afraid it would get moldy before they'd eat it all and then either very sick/dead hens or wasted food. I want a step-on feeder in a smaller size (25lb max). And I want to get the girls onto nipple waterers too, I'm going to be getting new chicks in a month or so and my plan is to get them onto those type of waterers and they can help train the big girls to them when they move outside. Let the littles teach the bigs for a change!

 

[Bella the Chicken Lover]

I have the farmlite chicken door and it sometimes shuts, even though its not the time I put in. Just the other day, it shut at 3 PM, when it is scheduled for 8 PM. I do not know the reason for this