Will they use a doggy door?

[Nyna]

Hi! I was wondering if anyone ever put a dog/cat door on the coop? This winter I want them to be able to go in and out of the coop, but I wanted to try and keep the warm air in the coop as much as possible and the open chicken door may cause an awful draft. Do you think they would be scared of it and not use it? They are all standards and I know they can squeeze/push though things when they want to. Anyone tried it?

 

[Poison Ivy]

My girls come inside the back carport enclosure through the cat door. My one hen loves to come inside and lay her egg. Sometimes a new girl would follow henrietta inside then forget how to go back out. I think someone on here has rubber strips hanging down on their pop door. I think they said they hung one strip at a time until they got use to going in & out with all of them on it.

 

[Standard Hen]

Yes I have seen pictures on here of the rubber strips, I open my doors right up and they do not seem to mind. In and out they go. Plus the coops get a good airing on a daily basis and they are all locked in at night to do the huddle and cuddle, they keep warm just fine. I can't stress enough to add some cracked corn to their layer pellets for warmth, I know Montana has some bad cold winters like we can have here.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We put a dog door on our shed coop when we first built it. We used the one with the rubbery door, that let's light through. The chickens wouldn't use it at first. They were young chickens in their first coop, so had never even used a pop hole door before. We had to tie it open. After they got used to going through the door unimpeded, we put the flap down. They were really motivated to go out in the morning, so pushed right through. Stragglers got a gentle, helping shove, as I slightly held the door open. We also checked at night, to make sure they all got back in ok. I would do that, anyway.

To secure the coop at night, I have an interior ramp that folds up and down at the base of the door, that locks. We just bought an automatic door for that coop, so I'm not quite sure what we'll end up doing, now. Probably letting a million mosquitoes and a lot of cold air in.

 

[Davaroo]

Swingin doors are nice, but they are indiscriminate - they also let in the bad guys. You need to have that covered somehow.

Much better is a door that opens in the AM and shuts tight in the PM. The ramp idea is nice, if the coop is high enough.
Personally, I like moats of flaming oil or pitch and archers on the parapets.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Quote:

That has me picturing a theme for artistic painting on a coop!

The one thing I really like about the interior ramp door, is that you don't have to worry about a raccoon fiddling around with a latch outside. We use deep litter and it can rest in any position on the litter, as the litter depth varies. No litter goes out the pop hole, either. It's pretty funny to see them lined up on the ramp to go out, too.