Pop Door

[CKfarm22]

What's the point? As stated, we don't have to go close the door. It closes itself, i.e. "automatic".....

The doors also open automatically. I really don't understand your comments.........

I think she means to make sure it is absolutely closed at night to give her mind a rest that she knows it is closed..

 

[Swbertrand1]

I think she means to make sure it is absolutely closed at night to give her mind a rest that she knows it is closed..

Everything but cleaning of the coop is automated in our setup: two doors, one of the two sets of lights (the other is on a manual outside switch for us to use at night), one exhaust fan, and two oscillating fans.
We're in the yard most afternoons/evenings with the birds anyway, so it's not an issue, but on rainy nights we look from inside the house. If there is no light in the doorways at the appropriate time after dusk, the doors are down.

Additionally, our lights come on in the morning before the doors open for the day, then the doors come up. 15 minutes later the lights in the coop go off for the day. Chickens come and go from the coop all day - not sure how they'd get to nest-boxes if the doors were closed during the day. The lights come back on in the coop 1-1/2 hours before nightfall. About 15 minutes after nightfall, the doors go down. 10 minutes after that, the lights go off for the night.

Automation makes having chickens VERY easy as far as the coop is concerned.

 

[CKfarm22]

Everything but cleaning of the coop is automated in our setup: two doors, one of the two sets of lights (the other is on a manual outside switch for us to use at night), one exhaust fan, and two oscillating fans.
We're in the yard most afternoons/evenings with the birds anyway, so it's not an issue, but on rainy nights we look from inside the house. If there is no light in the doorways at the appropriate time after dusk, the doors are down.

Additionally, our lights come on in the morning before the doors open for the day, then the doors come up. 15 minutes later the lights in the coop go off for the day. Chickens come and go from the coop all day - not sure how they'd get to nest-boxes if the doors were closed during the day. The lights come back on in the coop 1-1/2 hours before nightfall. About 15 minutes after nightfall, the doors go down. 10 minutes after that, the lights go off for the night.

Automation makes having chickens VERY easy as far as the coop is concerned.

What kind of lights do you use? We are looking for those also!

 

[McChooky]

I close my pop door every night. I have faith in the security of my run, but I have more faith in the security of my coop.

Yes, I have to get up to let them out. It gets my day started. And I can always go back to bed...

For their own safety my chickens are locked up an hour before dark in their enclosed run and after dark they're pop up door is shut with them safe inside.Their run is safe enough to leave them outside all night but predators will harass them them and keep them awake if they roost outside at night.

 

[CKfarm22]

For their own safety my chickens are locked up an hour before dark in their enclosed run and after dark they're pop up door is shut with them safe inside.Their run is safe enough to leave them outside all night but predators will harass them them and keep them awake if they roost outside at night.

My chickens go inside their coop as soon as it gets dark, and climb onto their roosts. Our coop is homemade and pretty sturdy. When we build the coop and put the pop door in, it closed and now it doesn’t, it’s closed but not locked, so if they really wanted to, they can push that door open. But they don’t haha

 

[WIchickMama]

I close and latch my pop up door every night. I just feel better if I close it

 

[Swbertrand1]

What kind of lights do you use? We are looking for those also!

One is a round 10" or so LED light, the manual light that we operate via switch from the outside for general lighting when we need immediate light to enter the coop after dark.

The other two lights, the automated ones, are just LED lights about 18" in length plugged into a timer then into an outlet on the wall.

The thing is, we have 110V power wired to the coop......

 

[Boise-girls]

I thought about getting an automatic door, but knew I'd absolutely *have* to make sure it closed at night. So what's the point? I just saved myself a couple hundred bucks.

Plus, unless it's super cold (like 10 degrees), I leave the people door open for extra ventilation during the day.

But there are days when my bed is warm, and it's pouring rain that I wish I didn't have to get up to let the birds out...

I would also have to go double-check at night, even with an auto door. I'd always worry that someone got locked out. Automatic in the morning has its attractions, though!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would also have to go double-check at night, even with an auto door. I'd always worry that someone got locked out. Automatic in the morning has its attractions, though!

We always check that the auto door did its job, both morning and night. It's a convenience but not an excuse to not do due diligence. The point of having it is knowing we don't have to rush home by a certain time to lock up, or wake by a certain time to let them out (we're night owls, so we're never up "on time"), and being able to take a trip knowing that if the neighbor skips out on checking up on them, the door should a least be doing its job.

 

[DobieLover]

Im wondering if anyone leaves their pop door open all the time, even at night. Our run is secure with only one door into it and a lock.

Always. I never close it.
I consider the run just an extension of the coop. It has a solid roof, 1/2" HC walls and a predator apron surrounds the entire setup.
Before a predator can try to dig it's way in, it has to get past the poultry netting that is powered with a 10,000 volt charger that forms the pen around the coop/run. Good luck to them.

I like to let them out of the run no later than 8. I will eventually put a homemade automatic door on the run. As the days are now getting noticeably much shorter, that has been niggling at the back of my mind.