Swing Down Automatic Coop Door?

[brandislee]

I want to change my coop door to an automatic door, but it's a swing down/ramp door (hinged at the bottom). And it's right below a window, so I can't change it to a slide up door unless I move it (which in itself would be doable, but I don't like the idea of having to patch where I already have a door, and moving it would involve first moving the nest boxes and cutting a hole in the shelf that holds up the nest boxes...).

I was looking at this site http://www.automaticchickencoopdoor.com/, they have an add on motor for an existing chicken coop door, but it shows it with swing up door. Can I use that motor with a swing down door? Anyone have an automatic swing down chicken coop door? I'd rather not do a DIY thing because, well, I'm not very good at electric wiring type stuff, and I would have more trust in a ready made product than in something I make myself. My main purpose for this is that I don't get up early, and especially when my roos start to crow I don't want them out in the coop crowing for an hour before I get out and let them out. But I also want it for when we go out of town- I'll always have someone lined up to feed and check on them, but I don't want that person to have a lot of pressure to be here super early or wait until after dark to shut them up, nor do I want to deprive my chicks of any precious outside time, but of course I also want them to be safe...

 

[sillybirds]

I've don't have experience with that automatic door, so I can't say whether it would work for your case or not. Looking at their website, the three questions I have are 1.) whether it would be able to lift a (?) heavier ramp/door, 2.) if the throw of the opener could be made longer to lower a ramp/door (rather than just raise a door), and 3.) whether the direction of the motor/mechanism could be reversed for lowering rather than raising ramp/door.

Maybe someone with experience with this opener will chime in. You may want to contact the maker too.

 

[Hegatha]

I was looking into getting one but then I heard a few people having poublems with them like not closing and opening right and also not closing all the way. So I decided not to get it.