Using weight of chickens to close door

[BressMan]

Hi everybody, long time reader, first time poster.

I'm in the process of building my coop for a June delivery of 7 Bress chickens. (I'm choosing Bress because of the patriotic red white and blue coloring along with a good combo of egg/meat/foraging). The coop is 8x8, made out of pallet wood, so all the 2x4 studs are 5' long. It goes from 5' high in the back to 8' high in the front. Today, it has 3 sides and the roof, and it is full of firewood. I plan to have a chicken run for the initial flock introduction and special circumstances, but once they are acclimated, the chickens will have free run of the one acre property which is mostly grass, fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, and fenced off garden. The back of the property is a river that is not fenced, so I am hopeful that as long as I provide them with good water, they won't try to go swimming.

I definitely want an automatic chicken door and will certainly purchase (a battery powered) one if necessary, but I don't have power at the coop, so I'd rather have a non-power solution. I'm considering using the chickens themselves to close the door by designing the roost bar on a hinged lever that, when 4-5 chickens get on it, their weight will close the door. And when they wake up and hop off, the counterbalance will open the door.

I can think of 2 possible issues with this design. First, will the chickens all come into the coop before about 4 chickens hop up onto the roost? I could possibly design a buffer that will slow down the lowering of the door, but have yet to come up with a cheap solution for this. The second possible issue is when there is a predator outside the coop (which will be well fortified as long as the door is closed). Will the chickens get excited and get off the roost, thus causing their own demise by inadvertently opening the very door protecting them.

What is your experience in terms of amount of time after the chickens enter the coop in the evening before they hop up on the roost and how much time difference from the time half the chickens are in until all the chickens are in (by "all chickens", I mean the same number of chickens that would come in by time a timer based coop door would close....recognizing that it is possible that one or more chickens may stay outside no matter what)
What do your chickens do when they sense a predator outside a secure coop? Do they stay on the roost?

Thanks for your input.

 

[cavemanrich]

I see the manual operation of a pop door by chickens as problem filled, for multiple reasons.
You would need army trained chickens to all march into coop, at same time.
My chickens do not ALL go in at same time.
You would need to keep a set number of chickens, and not allow for additions or losses.
Example: If you lost a few to aerial raptors or other daytime predators, the coop would stay open ALL night, and further finish off the flock.
A manually chicken operated door would have to rely on gravity to stay closed. Predators like raccoons would LUV you, as they have no problem opening such doors.
Winter, icing, and other debris would also prevent pop door from operating properly.
These are just a quick few ideas, that pop into my head . I could think of more.
I have a Battery operated pop door, that I change a $5 battery once a year. It is gear driven , so it prevents a raccoon lifting it and opening it. I had it in operation for 3 years with no problems. It operates on a light sensor. Opens at dawn, and closes at dusk.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[K0k0shka]

Somebody on BYC built this and said it worked very well and was very reliable. The thread recently got revived but, sadly, the original poster has not been around for a while. You can try messaging him and see if he responds. Or just watch the videos and try to reverse-engineer his design (or something similar).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/automatic-chicken-door-with-no-power-and-no-timer.1105925/

 

[Mtnboomer]

In winter, now for example, my birds are in the coop by 530 like clockwork. One makes the decision to go in and they all come running to go to bed. They jump up almost immediately.
In warmer months its a different story. Some go in and out a few times before staying in and there are always stragglers trying to grab the bugs coming out. The last one isn't in the coop until up to 30min to an hour after the 1st.
Your engineering is very clever but I also have a bird that refuses to roost on the rods provided and she almost always sleeps in a nesting box. It would be difficult to account for behavior like this as well.
Im very curious to hear about how this turns out for you. Good luck!

 

[mowin]

I'd be concerned about the river. Weasels, coons, coyotes, all love to hunt along waters edge.

 

[aart]

I see the manual operation of a pop door by chickens as problem filled, for multiple reasons.

Ditto Dat!


Been done, not followed up on.
Funny that old thread just popped up the other day.
Someone new is supposedly gonna try it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...oor-with-no-power-and-no-timer.1105925/page-2

 

[jthornton]

While that is an interesting idea and makes a great putube video for entertainment purposes, I doubt that it is very practical in real life. A solar powered door with programmable open and close times would be much more practical.

Nothing can replace you going out twice a day to check on your flock and opening and closing the door.

I have an automatic door I designed and built and have wired Ethernet in my coop with POE for my cameras but I still go out each evening and do a bed check and when the door opens they are confined to the covered run which is inside of a 5' chain link fence with hot wires on the outside until I go out and check the chicken yard and let them out.

JT

 

[Henry&Friends]

A problem I see with this isn’t that the flock would jump off the roost at a predator outside, but rather that the door, being lifted or lowered by the roost, would have no way to properly lock at night. Any coon or weasel would just lift the door out of their way and start grabbing hens... and in grabbing hens they’d open the door and waltz out afterwards, never to be caught.

 

[ColoradoPip]

Does anyone else's chickens roost during the day? My girls hand inside some days and half might get locked out for the day if enough decide to take an afternoon nap.

 

[aart]

Does anyone else's chickens roost during the day? My girls hand inside some days and half might get locked out for the day if enough decide to take an afternoon nap.

Yeah, sometimes.

Device should designed so all the birds have to be on the roost for door to close.