My Experience with a Coop Tender pop door.

woodmort

RIP 1938-2020
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Jul 6, 2010
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I wrote a post earlier about my adding an automatic door to my coop. Basically I wanted something that I could control with my iPhone/iPad remotely. The ones I saw on here and elsewhere either worked manually, on a timer or were light dependent. I didn't want this because there are times I don't want my chickens let out either because of weather or my not being around to give them some protection, Also, since my coop is 50 yards or so from the house I wanted to be able to open/close the door without leaving the house or, more importantly, not being home. This was especially important in the evening when we were out someplace until after dark,


After making a Google search for automatic pop doors I found a company, Coop Tender in Sewickley PA, that made a door that fit my needs--and then some. After reading the customers' reviews I decide to take the plunge and ordered one that was WiFi enabled.

Coop Tender's doors have a lot of options from simple timer programmable to the WiFi enabled. They come in openings in three sizes--10 X 10 inches for chickens, 12 X 12 for turkeys and a larger 13 X 20. The door itself is one-inch treated pine.

Installation is fairly easy. Cut the required sized hole and mount the unit on the outside of the building. Below is the unit on my coop which, is mounted under a window. Plug it into an outlet and it's ready to go. Programming the touch pad is fairly straight forward and easy.

View attachment 1805402

Note the touch pad is on the outside and I have trimmed around the door. The actual door opens/ closes (raises/lowers)using a worm drive and the door itself is behind the wooden panel. The worm drive makes the door a positive close--a raccoon would need burglar tools to open it. Actual opening/closing is fairly slow so birds will have a chance to get in while closing.

Below is the inside of the unit in place. It shows the WiFi module. I did install a WiFi extender inside the house to be sure the signal would reach the coop even though the original signal seemed strong enough. (My router is on the other side of the house.) The back panel does come off to give one access to the worm gear for cleaning and lubricating if necessary. The wire you see going off to the right is to the temperature probe which I mounted inside the coop.

View attachment 1805403

These doors come with a bunch of options which can also be added on at purchased or after. You get what you pay for. Their basic model has manual opening plus timer and dusk to dawn programming. One feature that it also comes with a temperature probe so it can be programmed to stay closed below a set temperature. An option that one probably should add is a back-up battery so a power outage won't be a problem. From there you can add solar powered operation and WiFi enabling. There is also an option of adding coop lighting and heating controls, an outside predator light and even a camera. There are a series of 4 LED lights on the front that indicate that the door is working and the status of the backup battery. One light shows green when the door is closed ; red when it is open. Once it gets dark that red light blinks and from experience I can tell you that it is visible from 50 yards away so you can be sure it has closed

From my 2 months of experience I found the door is easy to work with and I have encountered only minor problems. For one thing they advise installing the door a couple of inches above the floor to avoid getting shavings under it. However, since I had to fit mine under a window it didn't allow for this kind of clearance. One night it blinked that it wasn't closed because there was too much under it--it was down as far as it could go however. I have since installed a baffle to keep the shavings from building up,

The only other problem I encountered was in initially connected it to the WiFi I made an error inputting my password--it only has to be done once BTW. This required a reset and I couldn't understand how it was to be done. I emailed Coop Tender and got an immediate reply as to the fix. (The customers who reviewed it are very positive about their customer service, something my experience backs up.) Now things have worked flawlessly.

As far as the WiFi is concerned I've taken full advantage of it. (As I've been writing this I let the birds out while sitting at my computer using my iPhone.) There is a one-time hookup to the Internet then all that is required is getting on the site, hitting a series of buttons and the door responds. The site gives one the door's status and temperature at the probe. Once you send the request you can also update the status to be sure it's been received. Basically any place you can access a WiFi point you can operate your door. I've closed it from the golf course when we've been delayed getting home in the evening and opened it from a dinner while having lunch when the weather changed from rain to sun.

BTW, it works easily manually as well. When I first let my pullets out I had to drive them in at night until they got used to going to roost. I just followed them to the door, hit the required buttons on the panel and the door closed while I stood there to make sure no one escaped.

If you're willing to spend the money, I'd highly recommend it. I just would check to make sure your WiFi router reaches the coop if you want this option. Check it out for yourself at CoopTender.com I'd also like to hear from anyone using this door as far as good/bad experiences with it.
 
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Thank you for all the information. Visited their website today and based on your review going to order this door.

Is the turkey 12” x 12” plenty big enough for large standard chickens?
 
Thank you for all the information. Visited their website today and based on your review going to order this door.

Is the turkey 12” x 12” plenty big enough for large standard chickens?

I have a mixed flock of standard sized chickens including Jersey Giants and a couple of big roosters, they have no problem getting in and out the regular sized door. Unless you've got turkeys or geese I don't think you'd need the turkey door unless you think bigger is better. BTW their customer service is great. Went I set mine up I inadvertently put in the wrong router password so it wouldn't connect. I contacted them and they immediately got back with a step by step fix--wasn't hard.

If I have any qualms about it, it would be that there is no way to operated it mechanically so if the power is out and the door open there is no way to close it--there is a back-up battery but it runs down fairly quickly. I cut a piece of plywood large enough to fit the opening just in case before we put in the generator.

Hope you like it. I love the convenience and have no problems. BTW--you can set the closing/opening speed so there isn't much worry about trapping birds.
 

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