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Yes. Yes. Yes. It is a lot of money, but it's an investment. The girls appreciate not having to wait for me if I want to sleep in on the weekend.
My second one is still in the box, sitting in the doorway waiting for me to build the second coop.
My initial set up with the first coop was no, I didn't need a silly automatic door. I have an indoor (top slider) door that I can raise from the outside, and I had a flap door on the outside. I was fine just the way it was for a few months, just as long as I got up early to let them in and tuck them in at night.
This all works until you find yourself away at these times. Poor chickens are stuck inside in the hot weather? It's dark outside at 5pm and the door is wide open and you can't get to them until late at night? They'll probably be fine, but after a while I didn't like playing against the odds.
I did my research and plunked down money for this unit. It's solid, one piece, and relatively easy to use. The door consists of a strong aluminum frame, a door that opens outwardly to the left (if looking from inside). The door cannot be pushed in due to a pin. The motor/timer is in a sealed container at the top of the frame, and a single wire (long lead) that goes to a battery.
Installation is simple. My opening was larger than the actual unit, so I closed the gap with wood and secured the door. All you need are 4 long screws or bolts that go through the aluminum frame to secure it. The door is mounted on the outside, so nothing sticks in to the coop.
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You can see the pins on the right to stop the door. The little shiny nob on the right is my magnet stuck to one of the frame screws.
There is a safety feature to avoid injuring birds in case they get caught in the door somehow. Details are here:
http://chickendoors.com/quality.htm
This is the same site but different web page set up. Very wonky. The door opens up one last time very briefly for a second chance. I find that making sure that you set the door to close at a proper time depending on season to be key. The chickens won't go inside until 8:30-9pm right now because it's so light. During winter I'll have it close as early as 5:30pm
You'll need a 12v 5ah battery but I understand that it can be connected to power as well. The battery lasts a good while, but you can tell when it's losing power as the door doesn't open as far as it was originally set. You should get a Battery Tender Plus to charge the battery fast. I had a solar charger attached to it, but I can't say for sure how much it actually helped due to the lack of sun here, and being in partial shade. Now that I have my second door, I bought two more batteries so that I can always have one ready to swap. Wayneh, I don't know about "several months"... I failed to actually document how long, but I would say 2 months is pushing it. Maybe more if you have a big enough solar charger.
I still tuck the girls in for the night though, just to make sure I have the proper head count. I haven't been gone more than a day yet, but if you plan on being out, make sure the door stays open well past normal shut in time to allow them to go inside themselves. For me, right now is 9:30pm.
The downside of the door has to do with one of it's key features of simplicity. The motor/timer box is a sealed unit that you interact with a single magnet. The door operates in two modes: program & manual. Manual operation can be done at any time after the door has been programmed by using the magnet. The program mode occurs when power is applied, and stores the first open and close times. Any time the battery is removed, the door needs to be programmed. So instead of say, a regular light timer where you can set the on off time in one sitting, the door timer must be done live.
I'll use today as an example, since I'm in program mode right now. Last night I cut the power and plugged it back in, and made sure the door was closed. This morning at 6am, I used the magnet to open the door (you leave the magnet on the box to determine how wide the door should open each morning). Now the open cycle is set. Tonight, at 9:30, I'll go out and make sure everyone is in and program the close time. Now the door is programmed and can be operated automatically or manually. Tomorrow, the door will open at 6am, and close at 9:30pm. I can manually open or close the door at any time during the day as well.
