Remote-controlled chicken door?

[AmCanyonStables]

Well, mine is sort of remote, but not automatic - using a plastic covered wire dog tie out, hooked to my fence in two different positions so I can do it from the yard. It is only about 12 feet - this would not work with 20 yards I think, but perhaps you could use the same principle, but with a couple of gears and pulleys - ending up with a crank near your back door. Kind of like a "mouse trap" sort of thing.
That way, your wife would not be going out in the snow, but she would be able to see that they came out.
See my diagram here:

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[Davaroo]

Quote:
This is a good alternative. Run a rope from the house, or wherever convenient, and just pull on it. Then let it down at night.
It is rather Rube Goldberg-esque, but that is part of the appeal. That it requires no power is a plus.

I love the patriotic door, as well.

 

[Davaroo]

TaylorC

I did find one drawing so far, one way to use the alarm clock idea, from:
"Successful Poultry Management," by Morley A. Jull, McGraw-Hill, 1943, page 200

This is a classic book from McGraw-Hills 'Rural Activities Series', printed during the peak of small-farm poultry's Golden Age.
The illustration in question shows a wind up clock and a swinging trigger arm, which rests on the winder key on the rear of the clock.
The clock itself is attached to a clock shelf with an "L" bracket, so it cannot move.

In use, the winder key will rotate when the alarm goes off, and this movement will upset the arm. This causes the arm to drop downward, like a pendulum. This rotational movement around the arms axis can fulfill two purposes:

1. It can be converted to linear motion at either end of the arm,
2. It can be used is used to turn a rotary switch or latch at its rotational axis.

This book is long out of print, but isn't expensive when it is found. I got mine off alibris.com for less than $10. I highly recommend it. I dumped my scanner long ago, so cannot reproduce the drawing. But if you just draw out what Ive described with pencil and paper, it will be apparent what is happening.

 

[Davaroo]

Actually there are no end of automatic door openers/closers inventions. But NONE of them are free of electrical power... they all have to be plugged in somehow. The closest to energy independence is the solar units, which have the downside of significant cost.
I can see a couple of ways to hybridize the function, i.e., mechanical open - powered close.

But how to eliminate electricity altogether is the question. If I was a Chinese inventor a thousand years ago, how would I have done it?

Hmmmm...

Anybody know where I can get some wind up spring motors?

Meanwhile, here are a couple of inventive ways to solve the matter with electric gadgetry:

http://www.fabiens.org/ckblog/?page_id=106

http://blog.stead.id.au/2010/01/building-automatic-chicken-door-opener.html

http://www.buildeazy.com/photo-chicken-coop-beatarticle.html

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Told a Chinese kid to get up and open/close the door, I expect

In principle it is possible to use a controlled drip of water to open or close a precisely-counterweighted door, but it would have to be reset each time. Indeed I think pretty much anything you came up with that was nonelectrical would have to be reset each time, and some of the electrical ones too.

Frankly I think it is good for the character to have to get up at 6 a.m. or whenever, and be home at dusk, to take care of something. So much of the rest of the modern world is built around "I should be able to do whatever I want whenever I want", it is GOOD to be reminded of the natural chronology of the workings of the world

(Except that I think it is quite legitimate for people whose jobs keep them away from the coop at door-opening or door-closing time to want/need an auto opener, of course!)

JMHO,

Pat

 

[TaylorC]

I hear you, Pat. Problem is, I leave around 5:20am, which seems a bit early to be letting the door open. My wife is rushing for the first two hours of her day with breakfast and kids' school, so it may be that the door gets open at 9 on a regular basis, unless I can find a clever solution.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Told a Chinese kid to get up and open/close the door, I expect

In principle it is possible to use a controlled drip of water to open or close a precisely-counterweighted door, but it would have to be reset each time. Indeed I think pretty much anything you came up with that was nonelectrical would have to be reset each time, and some of the electrical ones too.

Frankly I think it is good for the character to have to get up at 6 a.m. or whenever, and be home at dusk, to take care of something. So much of the rest of the modern world is built around "I should be able to do whatever I want whenever I want", it is GOOD to be reminded of the natural chronology of the workings of the world

(Except that I think it is quite legitimate for people whose jobs keep them away from the coop at door-opening or door-closing time to want/need an auto opener, of course!)

JMHO,

Pat

You have nailed the crux of it, Pat. At some point, energy must be input and decisions made (controls applied). We initially solve these with muscle and brain, working together, like this...

"Oh, its morning - chickens need to be let out. Lets go open the door..." then later,
"Oh look, it's evening - chickens must be shut up. Lets go close the door..."

In this time-tested scenario, we provide both the control and the power through our physical action. Okay, we know that. But I'm after some degree of non-electrical automation for that, right? Electrical power is useful, abundant and relatively cheap. So much so, in fact, that we have grown to utterly depend on it for everything. But it sometimes fails and then is useless. SO alternatives are worth investigating.

The water drip would work, after a fashion, and I've thought that one out - along with its attendant pitfalls. A possibility, yes, but with enough troubles so that I consider it 2nd tier.

A gravity operated, kinetic mechanism, a la cuckoo clockwork, has potential. Ditto a spring wound mechanism of some sort.
Either one could likely give you several days worth of operation on a single input of energy.

The rub comes when, as you suggest, we want to time the process over a recurring 24 hour period. A timer becomes a must at that point, and I'm unaware of any non-electrical timers that don't require human intervention at some point. The classic wind-up alarm clock is a prime example.

So, we'll agree that you must remain involved in the mechanism if you are to eschew gross amounts of electrical power. Well and good, then.

I've reached the conclusion, that a timed actuator of low power consumption, either battery or solar powered , could perform the needed control tasks. Meanwhile, the movement of mass (the door) could be accomplished by balanced weight and kinetic energy. The door doesn't have to move far (1 foot) and gravity could do that in one direction. So we only need enough input energy to move the door one foot the other way. Stored kinetic energy could do that.

So we end up with a hybrid design of some sort, a little electricity properly applied, and the remaining energy mechanically provided. Further development along these lines is needed, although I have formed some crude ideas already.

If in the end, if we only provide a one way device which requires a once daily input from us, well.... it's an improvement.

You know that I agree with you most of the time - and this is one of those times.

That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.

 

[patandchickens]

Well, IMHO if there is enough room in the coop there is nothing really wrong with letting them out late - mine don't generally get out til 8ish on weekdays and 9-something on weekends

Of course if it is a tighter coop then I agree it is quite reasonable to want a way of letting them out at dawn despite your being at work, that seems like an actual *sensible* purpose for an auto or remote opener

You know, if all you want is for your wife to be able to point the remote out the window and have the door open, it needn't be particularly strongly powered-- you just need something lightly-powered to remove a latch pin or cam or some such, and have weights or springs that then open the door. I know they have remote-controlled doodads for operating strings of Xmas lights that should work at the distances you are talking about - you could just ("just", she says cavalierly, having not actually sat down and thought through the details <g>) wire in a small motor to pull a pin out of a latch, and there ya go. You'd have to manually reset it each day but Oh Well.

Good luck, have fun, looking forward to seeing what you come up with

,

Pat

 

[chicken chic]

After searching for the same thing I found this http://www.doggyworld.com/product_p/easyout-1.htm I'm thinking about trying this because I can latch it from the inside at night & use the remote to open it in the morning. What do you think?

 

[jetdog]

Lowes has remote controlled timers and if you plug any type of motor into it you can control it from the house.