Using an automatic door opener with geese and ducks

[pinksapphire]

I have chickens, ducks and geese and they are all housed together in an enclosed run at night.
I would really like to get an automatic door opener but am not sure if the geese and ducks would go into the run by themselves at night.
Every night when I go out to put them away the ducks and geese are waiting at the gate for me and I give them a little food to go in to the pen.
Has anyone used an automatic door successfully with ducks and geese? or have any tips for training them to be in before it closes?

Thanks

 

[Pyxis]

I do. Mine go in at night on their own every night with no problem. They are used to sleeping in the coop, so they follow that routine and put themselves to be every night when it starts to get dark.

I can't really say I trained them to do it; at first I would just herd them in at night and close the door. Then they did it on their own. Now the young ones just follow the lead of the older ones, so they are self-training at this point.

 

[RedneckPrincess]

My chickens just go in the coop when it gets dark too.

 

[Liamrb]

My problem is getting a door big enough for geese and muscovy ducks. Nobody seems to have anything larger than 12" opening available.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

We had one for our coop and they got the hang of it though its a tight fit for them as its a chicken door size. As long as its big enough they can be trained to it however there is one huge issue to watch out for. Geese chew.

Exposed wires, buttons, loose screws etc anything that you can fiddle with the geese will fiddle with.

As for trying our chickens and geese are pretty much grain trained. I used the same coffee cans for food and treats and I always feed them inside their run twice a day. And if the door is on the coop then I suggest herding them to it. You may need to catch them and help them in a few times but as long as you push their head through and put pressed behind them theyll walk forward. Eventually they'll get the routine. Also if you try associating it with the same word every time eventually they may do it when you say the word.

A youtuber Gold shaw Farm had his ducks trained with "All ducks go to bed" by herding them day after day until they were used to it and then the youngers were trained by the ones who knew what it meant.

 

[pinksapphire]

My problem is getting a door big enough for geese and muscovy ducks. Nobody seems to have anything larger than 12" opening available.

I got a chicken guard with the self locking door, the geese and ducks actually fit through it fine.
They started off going in themselves before it closed but now don't and wait outside the coop at night for me to open the bigger door to let them in.

 

[telandra2]

I have a 'turkey' sized door with light sensor and remote, no longer available from Amazon, that works great. The ducks used it perfectly, then the geese started blocking the doorway. Now they all go into their run but hang out by the door and need to be shooed inside. Its about 30 seconds of 'go to bed' and occasional herding so not a big deal. Sometimes a goose try and slip out as the door is closing so I stand in front of the opening. When they were using it well the one time they didn't is the time something nabbed my alpha goose out of a gaggle of 16. *sigh*. Now I always double check at sunset everyone is locked up.

Dawn is great. It's amazing the tiny opening a goose will cram itself through rather than wait 10 seconds for the door to open fully.

 

[AGeese]

The ducks used it perfectly, then the geese started blocking the doorway.

I know exactly what you mean about blocking the doorway. I catch them doing that to the chickens... plus mine never really go in at sun down. They might head towards the pen and just hang out side...