New Coop: Extreme Cold Automatic Door and other 40 below zero suggestions?

[WBZ]

Hello from North Dakota!!

Any of you live in the sub-zero climate like I do and have recommendations for a NON DIY automatic door that has been tested thoroughly with these temps?
I'm not too worried about snow blocking the mechanism as we plan to build a mini "entry way" on the coop to protect it from wind and snow.

Coop will be well insulated. We're just finishing it up and want to make any necessary fixes to it now.


Also....

• anyway to keep the eggs from freezing in the winter without heating the whole coop?
• what is the best heated chicken waterer option with a 5+ gallon capacity?
  
  Thank you!

 

[Lexicon]

Hello from North Dakota!!

Any of you live in the sub-zero climate like I do and have recommendations for a NON DIY automatic door that has been tested thoroughly with these temps?
I'm not too worried about snow blocking the mechanism as we plan to build a mini "entry way" on the coop to protect it from wind and snow.

• 
  Thank you!

I live in northern Canada and have a an Ador auto door. It works very well, but I have found that the battery that powers the opening mechanism doesn't work at temperatures below -30 or so. Once it warms up, all is well with no intervention from me. This small issue is not a problem for me because my hens have zero interest in going outside at those temperatures anyway.

The only other issue that I had was a build-up of frozen poop that made the door go back up and try to close again (as a safety feature). As you know, frozen chicken poop is rock hard! Once I cleared that away, again all was well and I knew to keep an eye out for that.

Overall, I would recommend the Ador door for northern climates.

 

[Neebs]

Hen gear has heating mats now available for their nest boxes. Not sure if they are any different from seed starting mats though.

 

[WBZ]

I live in northern Canada and have a an Ador auto door. It works very well, but I have found that the battery that powers the opening mechanism doesn't work at temperatures below -30 or so. Once it warms up, all is well with no intervention from me. This small issue is not a problem for me because my hens have zero interest in going outside at those temperatures anyway.

The only other issue that I had was a build-up of frozen poop that made the door go back up and try to close again (as a safety feature). As you know, frozen chicken poop is rock hard! Once I cleared that away, again all was well and I knew to keep an eye out for that.

Overall, I would recommend the Ador door for northern climates.

Thank you so much for your insight!
I'm struggling to find info on what size hole to cut for the door. Do you have a recommendation? We're actively building the coop now as I type

 

[Lexicon]

Thank you so much for your insight!
I'm struggling to find info on what size hole to cut for the door. Do you have a recommendation? We're actively building the coop now as I type

I went out and measured our opening. It's 13 inches high and 10.5 inches wide.