My Automatic Chicken Coop Door Has Arrived

[Mahonri]

Tonight as I was waiting for the last of my girls to go in, I thought...you know it sure would be neat if I had an automatic door to open 30 minutes before sunset and to close an hour later.

 

[coberdor]

I bought the drapery motor on ebay for $74. I took the metal plating from an old washer and cut my door from that. It's sturdier and coons can't get a grip on the smooth metal. It was really easy to make. Actually I hooked two doors up to one motor!. I just threaded the cords through a pulley and the motor is strong enough to pull up 50 lbs. It was a bit to get the pulleys in the exact spot so they come up evenly.

 

[chicken stalker]

ohh pictures please. I have two doors and was trying to figure out how to rig them up.

 

[HarryBun12]

JulieCT, I only see one string coming down to the door. When I set mine up I had to have a counterweight on the other side of the pulley. Could you see how that's set up around that pulley inside the motor casing thing? Like I posted earlier, my counterweight got caught and caused the motor to be damaged. If I could do without the counterweight somehow that would be a better set up when I procure another motor.

My husband doesn't care for gadgets like I do, so, silly him, he doesn't think we need an automatic door. Of course we do...

 

[juliect]

Quote:
I'm out of town at the moment. As soon as I get back I will let you know.

I love gadgets. Traveling is one of the reasons I wanted an automatic door...I don't quite trust the person who sees after them to make sure they are locked up at night. Their new run will be as predator proof as humanly possible, but I never underestimate the ingenuity of raccoons.

 

[juliect]

Quote:

Nice setup! Sounds like your son is keeper, good call on not selling him.

 

[juliect]

HarryBun12 there is no counterweight. Inside it just looks like a small spool of thread and it has two "stops" that you can set for both raising and lowering.

 

[happyfrenchman]

That motor is a automatic drapery closer. It can be set to any length. I have one in my coop that I use as an automatic chicken door. It comes on when power is applied to it. Then when power is taken off, and applied again, it rotates in the other direction. I use a digital timer for mine because with the pin type timers, the time increments are typically a half hour. Which is too much time for something to go wrong and have the power jiggle and the door is open again. The digital timer, it comes on for one minute, and off the next. Much easier to fine tune to match the sunset as the days get shorter.

http://www.hometech.com/hts/products/drapery/index.html

That is a link to the motor. I found that until I applied fairly heavy weight to the door and to the counter weight, that there was slippage of the cord. (this could cause your door to not open, or not fully close) When I put more weights on it, it cured the slipping.

Once you have a reliable automatic chicken door, you can never go back.

 

[happyfrenchman]

whoops, I see that the motor in Julies door does not have a counterweight. So that is different. If you do have a counterweight, it is important to keep it from snagging on anything. I run mine up and down inside a piece of plastic pipe.

 

[cmarlowdrive]

I am considering this unit in aluminum so I can install it on the outside of my coop. I still don't have the answers to my question about what happens if it hits a bird coming down. Does it go back up and reset to come down in a few minutes?
What about if electricity interruption? I have tried to call and e:mail company with no luck.

Can anyone answer these questions?