Why are automatic coop doors so expensive? Why????

[ericz]

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the motor and timer (and battery) go inside the coop. you can buy the kit from discount home automation but you have to make your own door.

 

[gryeyes]

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Yup, I have 2 from Foy's (1 for each coop) and they are worth every penny. We never have to worry about the girls not being closed up if we get home late or are out of town.

I also have two from Foy's, which i love(d) and one other brand that I am getting annoyed about. Foy's was out of stock when I needed the third auto door, so I bought that one. It needs electricity (Foy's Electronic Doorkeeper does not) and requies a sepate timer. The door mechanism is fine, it's just the timers are exposed and if it gets dusty - a strong possibility, ya think? - the timer fails. If a bird flaps up onto or against it, the pins get moved and it won't open or close as expected. Gotta reset it for longer or shorter days.

Not so with the Foy's "expensive" auto door - it uses 4 AA batteries, which last more than a year, and a light sensor to trigger the mechanism at dawn and dusk. The reason I wrote "love(d)" is because those two doors are on coops still at another property and not up here with my flock. I moved. I AM gonna retrieve them at some point, though.

Yes, worth every single penny. Absolutely.

 

[bald egg]

I started out with the Ad A Motor and burned it out in about 3 months with a door that was too heavy My run is predator proof as can be and now I just leave the pop door open 24/7. I might close it during a real cod snap otherwise it's open. I have neighbors pit bulls, racoons and other creatures milling about at night with no problems to date. It works for me.

 

[blgros]

Newbie question: how do you set the timer? I mean, how does the timer know when they all get inside?

Or do chickens naturally go inside when it gets dark?

 

[gryeyes]

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I set the timer for about an hour after the sun sets. Yah, pain to keep resetting it.

Chickens naturally go to roost at dusk, and if you have trained them to know the coop is their home, where they are safe, they will go into the coop.

 

[cjh0907]

i know you are talking about a motorized one, but i went to the local walmart and bought some pullies and made three doors in my three coops that i can open and close from outside the coop for less than $15. Of course i do have to go outside in the morning and at dusk to open and shut them but it saves a lot of time not having to climb into the coop.

 

[Beekissed]

I still can't imagine why you folks don't just utilize the alarm clock method if it is so important to have automatic door openers? You can't get much simpler and cheaper.

Maybe someone should invent a dusk to dawn opener~in reverse?

 

[WalkingTreatMachine]

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That's my set-up, and it WAS super cheap (it probably cost about $5) and no worries about anything malfunctioning and not opening in the morning on a really hot day. Just some rope, strategically-placed eye hooks, and voila! It ties up right next to the window by my bed. Too bad the other end isn't attached to a bell service ;-) LOL

 

[The Old Whittler]

I built my coop this past July and during the building process I started thinking about how nice it would be to have a automatic opener/closer. After putting some thought in it I came up with an idea of how to do it and started searching the internet for the parts I needed to build it. I have a background in electrical and mechanical engineering while working for IBM so I had some knowledge as to where to get the parts I wanted. I didn’t keep up with the cost of the parts as I built it so I really didn’t know how much I had in it. I wanted something that was dependable and so I used industrial parts in building it. It works extremely well and hasn’t missed a beat since I built it. The opener/closer is belt driven using a 12 volt dc gear motor, belt, relays, digital timer, switches, battery level indicator, battery and a solar panel to keep the battery charged and even put a status LED to let me know from a distance that the door is closed. The timer I used is pretty nice and can be set to the minute as to when you want the door to open or close and the motor is geared so low the sliding door would be almost impossible to open by any predator.

I’d been reading here on BYC about people trying to build openers and this one worked so well I thought I might try building one to sell. My plan was to use an aluminum track for the door to slide in, an aluminum box with a hinged door to house the motor and electrical parts and a 3/8“ polypropylene door. The unit could be mounted either on the inside or outside of the coop and could also be mounted horizontal or vertical. I made a parts list for all the parts needed and when I got a price on everything but the battery and solar panel I was shocked to death. The total cost for the parts was over $300. and that didn’t include shipping on the parts or the battery and solar panel. I’ve pretty much given up on that idea now but I have been thinking about just building the opener and letting the buyer build their own door and track. That should get cost down quite a bit.

 

[rungirl]

I read the threads out here on building your own door opener and built mine for around $40. It wasn't hard at all. I just ordered an automatic car antenna off Ebay for $30 and two DC power cords like you use for your laptop for. I had a timer, and some wire cutters and electrical tape. The rest was easy. I mounted it inside the coop about the door with some wire ties. The directions on this thread were very easy to follow and it was actually kind of fun to put together.

Check it out... you can do this, I did and I'm a girl!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=8400-automatic-pop-hole-opener

Lisa