INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

@kittydoc
  [COLOR=8B4513]Wow! What a horrible ordeal you had to go through, but what a relief that your pain is relieved! I am glad that you posted this info because I have a friend who has painful reumatoid arthritis in her spine and has vowed not to ever have back surgery. I will pass this info along to her![/COLOR]

Your birds are just beautiful and so big and fluffy!!

I miss free ranging mine so much!

I did meet up with a fellow BYCER and trade some MFC (Mille Fleur Cochin) for a Midget White hen which I'm super excited about! Since losing my 3 hens last summer I didn't know if I'd ever find one. She's so pretty. I miss having them.

Big hugs to you for all you're going through with your sister. That kind of support takes a toll on you especially when there's travel involved. Keep good care of yourself. Try getting in some good chicken therapy during the much needed warmth and sunshine coming this week!

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40 , OMG, I pray your sister's doctors figure out the cause of all this and turn things around all the way! Sounds just awful and very scary.

X2

 

[pginsber]

Automatic coop door opener info needed please
We're going to be gone for a week in April, and DS will feed the chickens, but is gone long hours because of work and working on his MBA. We decided to get an auto door opener to lessen the hassle for DS. I remember many of you commenting on the models you've purchased. We will have to make modifications because our coop has a walk-in door, and I believe you have to have a small square type of auto door. Seems like they unfortunately cost in the $200 range. I would appreciate recommendations~ Thank you!

I LOVE our automatic coop door. Let me say it again. I LOVE our automatic door. It makes a huge difference in our life and the lives of our birds. We don't worry about their safety if we come home after dark, and they can get out of the coop at first light, even if we're gone and the house sitter doesn't come until noon.

I've had ours since 2013. We chose, and recommend the Ador door from the Ador store dot com.

Pros: I chose the Ador door because it's a simple sprocket and gear operation (no strings to break), galvanized, dusk to dawn, customizable, and runs on a battery. The door was built by an engineer in Texas, and there's directions and expansion areas on the circuit board that allow for programming for advanced features. The door itself uses a series of beeps and morse codes if you choose to use them for self diagnosis if you have trouble for some reason. It runs within a galvanized track and has a self-reversing mechanism if it encounters resistance (hits something).

Cons: Our chickens have been known to poo in the exact middle of the doorway in the winter, and the poo freezes in the doorway. The door closes, hits the frozen poo, self-reverses and remains open. It didn't happen last year, but it happened once the year before. I fixed this, but initially it was a con, our coop is near a public security light. Initially, that light interfered with the dusk to dawn operations. I was able to mitigate this situation with an extension of the photosensor (an option offered) and I routed the dust to dawn eye away from the security light-problem solved.

Whichever auto coop door you choose, I imagine YOU'LL LOVE IT!! It's great freedom for you and added security for your birds.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pginsber
Since you have one of the Ador's, wanted to ask a question.

The main reason that I did not choose theirs is the "dusk to dawn" light sensor.

I wanted mine to be on a timer so I could let them out a bit later than the sensor would allow for example. Another thing I like about the timer is that I can program it to open at different times on various days if I want.

I also want to set a specific time for the door to close rather than "dusk". The other issue I see is when there is a storm approaching and it gets really dark, the door may close and trap birds outside that want to come in during the storm but can't because the door has closed.


So... my question:
Can the Ador be run on a timer rather than dusk to dawn?



And... I love the auto doors too! Since my birds have been in the barn, they haven't had the auto doors and we're going to figure out a way to put the door on the barn this spring. I HATE living without my auto-doors (they're both on the "little house" and we haven't put one on the barn since we began using it for the main layer flock. I've only been using the little house for excess roos and possibly for meat birds in the future.)

 

[hbrown322]

Does anyone know of someone/place currently selling polish chicks? I lost my chick last week and am hoping to get another one. I usually get chick from Agrarian for convienance sake, but they won't get any until mid April. Tsc in Noblesville currently doesn't have any.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Does anyone know of someone/place currently selling polish chicks? I lost my chick last week and am hoping to get another one. I usually get chick from Agrarian for convienance sake, but they won't get any until mid April. Tsc in Noblesville currently doesn't have any.

 

[ellymayRans]

Does anyone know of someone/place currently selling polish chicks? I lost my chick last week and am hoping to get another one. I usually get chick from Agrarian for convienance sake, but they won't get any until mid April. Tsc in Noblesville currently doesn't have any.

A drive for you but the Rural King in Bloomington had them Saturday morning when I went. 3 or 4 different colors. You may call any nearby as I know the Bloomington one says they will special order for you too.

 

[wheezy50]

Does anyone know of someone/place currently selling polish chicks? I lost my chick last week and am hoping to get another one. I usually get chick from Agrarian for convienance sake, but they won't get any until mid April. Tsc in Noblesville currently doesn't have any.

I was at Bloomington RK Sunday morning and they were out of Polish! That's what I went looking for but they must have sold them all on Saturday. I have gotten some Polish this spring from bloomington RK, but they always run out fast. If you call there and talk to the manager of feed section he is in charge of chick orders. He can sometimes tell you what's coming in when but the hatchery doesn't always have a good hatch and sometimes he gets others that weren't on his order. So it's better than nothing but not fool-proof

 

[hbrown322]

Thanks everyone!

 

[pginsber]

@pginsber
Since you have one of the Ador's, wanted to ask a question.

The main reason that I did not choose theirs is the "dusk to dawn" light sensor.

I wanted mine to be on a timer so I could let them out a bit later than the sensor would allow for example. Another thing I like about the timer is that I can program it to open at different times on various days if I want.

I also want to set a specific time for the door to close rather than "dusk". The other issue I see is when there is a storm approaching and it gets really dark, the door may close and trap birds outside that want to come in during the storm but can't because the door has closed.


So... my question:
Can the Ador be run on a timer rather than dusk to dawn?



And... I love the auto doors too! Since my birds have been in the barn, they haven't had the auto doors and we're going to figure out a way to put the door on the barn this spring. I HATE living without my auto-doors (they're both on the "little house" and we haven't put one on the barn since we began using it for the main layer flock. I've only been using the little house for excess roos and possibly for meat birds in the future.)

Hi, Leah's Mom-
I bet those Roos wish they had their auto doors back, too.

The Ador Door comes with settings to tweak the dusk to dawn features.
There are 'Sensitivity' settings to make the door either more sensitive to daylight or less sensitive to daylight.
It also has a 'last call' feature that we utilized when training the birds. 'Last call' closes the door and after a few minutes it re-opens the door again briefly for stragglers.

I have never had birds get stuck outside because it got dark in a storm. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen, but our birds have a 4x8' porch that they stay underneath outside and watch the weather. They do the same thing in the rain and snow. I think they're a little strange.

Beyond that, the only way I can think of is to use an AC adaptor and plug the adaptor into a timer. I haven't given the programming much thought since I installed it 4 years ago, but as I can recall, if you were using just a battery, I believe dusk to dawn with a few slight variations is the operation of this one.