Light sensored chicken door in wooded areas???

[Stephanie8806]

Hey there BYC! I’m shopping for an automatic Chicken door for my coop and am wondering what people here have experienced.

I’ve heard great things about the ADOR door, but am slightly concerned about the light sensor... our run is covered by a large tree and I’m concerned that the wooded nature of the area will cause a light sensored door to close prematurely. Does anyone have a similar setup?

I am also wondering what the best door that operates on a straight timer would be... it has to be one that can stand up to below zero temperatures in the winters and above 100 in the summer.

I also need it to be suitable for mounting on the exterior of the coop. Ador1 all seems great and durable, but I’m concerned about the light sensor...

 

[THEChIcKeNwhisperer354]

Most auto doors do fine in cold im not sure about the heat. Its best to get a door with a timer on it.

 

[deidreg]

I have an Omlet automatic door. Can use the light sensor, or the timer. Runs on batteries. Easy to monitor battery life. It's been below zero and hasn't failed. Worth the price.

https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/automatic_chicken_coop_door_opener/

 

[K0k0shka]

I have the Happy Henhouse and am really happy with it. It has both options - timer and light sensor, with the added bonus that for the light sensor, you can adjust the lumen level at which it opens and closes. So, for your particular coop location, you can go out there and check the lumens at the time of day you want it to open (the door mechanism itself will show you), and at the time of day you want it to close, and then set it to that. So it will use the readings from your particular spot, not some pre-determined light level. I've had mine for about a year, during which time we've had both below zero and above 100 temperatures (in the coop anyway - it rarely ever reaches 100 outside but it sure does climb above 100 inside the coop, unfortunately) and it has done fine. The box closes well and is supposed to be weatherproof, but I have mine inside the coop, so I can't really speak for weather durability. Why do you need it to be installed on the outside? It's a very small box, doesn't take up a lot of space.

 

[Stephanie8806]

I have the Happy Henhouse and am really happy with it. It has both options - timer and light sensor, with the added bonus that for the light sensor, you can adjust the lumen level at which it opens and closes. So, for your particular coop location, you can go out there and check the lumens at the time of day you want it to open (the door mechanism itself will show you), and at the time of day you want it to close, and then set it to that. So it will use the readings from your particular spot, not some pre-determined light level. I've had mine for about a year, during which time we've had both below zero and above 100 temperatures (in the coop anyway - it rarely ever reaches 100 outside but it sure does climb above 100 inside the coop, unfortunately) and it has done fine. The box closes well and is supposed to be weatherproof, but I have mine inside the coop, so I can't really speak for weather durability. Why do you need it to be installed on the outside? It's a very small box, doesn't take up a lot of space.

Due to the size and construction style of my coop, I want it on the outside. I am pretty certain if it’s inside the coop, the chances the tracks might get bedding in them are way higher than debris making its way into them on the outside. I’d much rather have to clean it from the open space outside than crawl under our poop board and try to get at it from down there.

 

[K0k0shka]

Due to the size and construction style of my coop, I want it on the outside. I am pretty certain if it’s inside the coop, the chances the tracks might get bedding in them are way higher than debris making its way into them on the outside. I’d much rather have to clean it from the open space outside than crawl under our poop board and try to get at it from down there.

The website says the controller is weatherproof, so you should be fine putting it on the outside then.

 

[bill3607]

I have a Coop Defender Gold Automatic Chicken Coop Door Kit and it works wonderfully as long as you put a little extra weight on the door to pull it down. I just tied some metal washers (3 I think it is) to mine. There was another guy on here that had to same problem about his not going down when activated. I told him what I did and it also worked for him. So, maybe it is a common problem with them but it is easily fixed. It is weather prove so it can be used externally and it can be used with either a time setting or with light or with a combination of the 2 such as if for some reason you wanted it to open by light in the morning but by time in the evening or vice versa.
I highly recommend it. I got mine off of Amazon and that is a link for it above.

 

[RojoMarz]

I have the Ador. It is installed in a fully covered run (approx 12'x20'), that is surrounded by pine trees. Currently, I also have plastic covered with orange snow fence, all along most all of the 20' sides. The Ador's light sensor works fine. It doesn't need direct sunlight hitting it.

By the way, I love the Ador. Works well. I like the lantern battery, as it seems to last a long time (going on 9 months for mine) and they are more economical than constantly replacing AA's. I did notice that the door had a slower door speed recently. But our temps were well below zero during that time. I did buy a new battery, but didn't install it. Now, are temps are back to "normal" for us, and the door is moving like it previously did. I'll save the battery for when I really need it. I also like that the door is in a track on the sides and bottom edge. Makes it very hard for a critter to try and pry the door open.

 

[Finnie]

I also have the Ador. Mine is mounted inside my coop, and I was a little concerned that it would be too dark in there for it to work, but it does just fine. I do have windows in my coop. If there were no windows, then I don’t think it would work. But if yours is mounted outside, I don’t think pine trees would block the light too badly.

 

[Vacman]

I have a Coop Defender Gold Automatic Chicken Coop Door Kit and it works wonderfully as long as you put a little extra weight on the door to pull it down. I just tied some metal washers (3 I think it is) to mine. There was another guy on here that had to same problem about his not going down when activated. I told him what I did and it also worked for him. So, maybe it is a common problem with them but it is easily fixed. It is weather prove so it can be used externally and it can be used with either a time setting or with light or with a combination of the 2 such as if for some reason you wanted it to open by light in the morning but by time in the evening or vice versa.
I highly recommend it. I got mine off of Amazon and that is a link for it above.

The problem that I see with any of the doors that use a string to raise the door and gravity to lower it is that a smart raccoon could easily figure out how to raise the door manually. Less secure than the doors operated with a screw drive mechanism.