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Posted: 5/1/2017 11:58:09 AM EDT
[#1]
I've been using the Cheeper Keeper for over a year now, and although it isn't cheap, it is very reliable! Works of a photo cell and opens and closes with great regularity so the chickens are always in at closing ... one year going on the original set of AA batteries.
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Posted: 5/1/2017 12:28:48 PM EDT
[#2]
Thanks for the suggestion. Off to research.
Keep em coming. |
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Posted: 5/1/2017 12:45:09 PM EDT
[#3]
Friend has one and loves it.
But my turkeys are a pain and won't stay in the coop if I don't personally go lock the door. They say screw this and fly up into trees. |
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Posted: 5/1/2017 1:09:44 PM EDT
[#4]
I designed one, haven't put it on yet, but the circuitry works when I play with it.
If you are a DIY electronics kind of guy, I could dig up the schematic. |
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Posted: 5/1/2017 3:54:13 PM EDT
[#5]
I'd like a auto door on our coop but I dont have power to it and I am not going to trench and lay line out to it. SO its been added to the girls chore list, one opens it and the other closes it.
It gets forgotten once and a while. |
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Posted: 5/1/2017 5:18:05 PM EDT
[#6]
best thing I have ever done.... the cheapskate side of me made one out of a can opener it worked to let them out in the morning but ultimately it failed
I coughed up the $80 for the automatic chicken door motor from Amazon its got the automatic switch built in to let the door up and down every morning and night its simply plugged into a timer to go off once in the morning and once after dark I built mine like a simple guillotine and it utilizes a plastic cutting board for a door that I drilled holes in to lighten it it rides in a very simple wood "L" track on either side the motor was $80 but not having to deal with chickens for the past 3 years has been priceless I love mine ETA: it even survived moving houses and building another chicken coop at the new house |
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Posted: 5/1/2017 5:35:23 PM EDT
[#7]
Here's my Texas take on a solar powered chicken coop with auto sliding door. Used a 20" linear actuator (200lb force) 12V from Missouri Wind and Solar to raise and lower by remote control inside ranch house--100ft away. Coupled with my Foscam wireless camera I have not guillotined one yet. Have not done photo cell activator.
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Posted: 5/1/2017 8:57:45 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Here's my Texas take on a solar powered chicken coop with auto sliding door. Used a 20" linear actuator (200lb force) 12V from Missouri Wind and Solar to raise and lower by remote control inside ranch house--100ft away. Coupled with my Foscam wireless camera I have not guillotined one yet. Have not done photo cell activator. http://i63.tinypic.com/24ccpdy.jpg http://i64.tinypic.com/2dr6jrr.jpg http://i67.tinypic.com/2yoptli.jpg http://i65.tinypic.com/2mmr78.jpg 
ETA: Thats a very nice setup! |
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Posted: 5/2/2017 12:38:56 PM EDT
[#9]
I've been using a door that looks exactly like the Cheeper Keeper suggested by low_tech for several years, although I purchased it through a poultry supply store (can't remember which one). I have it configured to close using the photo sensor but open on a timer. It was about the same cost as the Cheeper Keeper which is a little pricey. My reasons for the automatic door were the same as yours and after a couple days of installation all the chickens figured out how to get in. I added a wooden hinged door on the outside of the coop to improve predator protection which I use when someone is home to manage it.
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Posted: 5/2/2017 1:52:42 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I designed one, haven't put it on yet, but the circuitry works when I play with it. If you are a DIY electronics kind of guy, I could dig up the schematic.  Attached File |
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Posted: 5/2/2017 2:07:55 PM EDT
[#11]
I do not close the coop door at all. As long as the pen is relatively predator proof you do not need to close them in at all.
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Posted: 5/2/2017 4:56:40 PM EDT
[#12]
I was going to ask this. If the run is secure, why do you need to close the coop door at night? I sure don't on mine. It is closeable but the only time I think I would is if it was getting crazy cold that night.
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Posted: 5/2/2017 5:23:40 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I was going to ask this. If the run is secure, why do you need to close the coop door at night? I sure don't on mine. It is closeable but the only time I think I would is if it was getting crazy cold that night. I now freerange my birds, cut my feed bill DRAMATICALLY. |
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Posted: 5/2/2017 5:33:02 PM EDT
[#14]
I don't have a preditor problem do I just keep my door up unless for some reason I want them in.
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Posted: 5/2/2017 5:50:07 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I was going to ask this. If the run is secure, why do you need to close the coop door at night? I sure don't on mine. It is closeable but the only time I think I would is if it was getting crazy cold that night. Also want the chickens to roost at night without stress. |
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Posted: 5/3/2017 12:39:07 AM EDT
[#16]
Depends on what y'all mean by "secure."
If it has a top, then I would agree, you could do without a door. If no top, then you've got possums, coons, cats, (big or small), and anything else that climbs easily, to fend off. They will all go over the fence. If you don't have those in your area, then this doesn't apply, of course. |
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Posted: 5/3/2017 10:53:06 AM EDT
[#17]
I'm loaded with predators- hawks, eagles, coyotes, fox, raccoons, mink, possum. I'd rather be safe than sorry.
My set up is a coop that is fenced into an area approximately 300'x300'. The coop will also have a run with a roof that is attached. The plan is to allow the chickens into the run during daylight hours and then I get to decide when they get to "free range" the enclosed 300x300 area. |
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Posted: 5/3/2017 10:55:42 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'm loaded with predators- hawks, eagles, coyotes, fox, raccoons, mink, possum. I'd rather be safe than sorry. My set up is a coop that is fenced into an area approximately 300'x300'. The coop will also have a run with a roof that is attached. The plan is to allow the chickens into the run during daylight hours and then I get to decide when they get to "free range" the enclosed 300x300 area. |
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Posted: 5/10/2017 9:14:36 PM EDT
[#19]
My coop door stays open 24/7/365. The advantage of having my dog run and dog house outside the chicken coop and run, entirely enclosing it.
My Great Pyrenees/Lab mixes (Bonnie and Clyde) are excellent guard dogs! |
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Posted: 5/10/2017 10:13:14 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
My coop door stays open 24/7/365. The advantage of having my dog run and dog house outside the chicken coop and run, entirely enclosing it. My Great Pyrenees/Lab mixes (Bonnie and Clyde) are excellent guard dogs! Assuming of course, that a person's dogs will not decide it's fun to decapitate chickens who stick their heads through the fence. Labs are horrible about this, and I've never figured out why. 
Just guessing that the Great Pyrenees in your dogs overcomes the need to kill the animals for fun. Those are amazing dogs.
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Posted: 5/10/2017 10:38:53 PM EDT
[#21]
I bought the best door design I could find, the Ador1. It cost me over $200. It worked great, just perfect for almost a year. Then it died, and it was under warranty so i contacted them multiple times through email and got no answer. I tried calling multiple times and no one answered.
So I had to spend another $200 and this time I just got the ruggedized ChickenGuard motor and tied it to the Ador door. If I had it to do all over again then I would get the Pullet Shut door. The design isn't as ideal as the Ador1, but it has been around longer and has a good reputation. |
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Posted: 5/10/2017 11:21:11 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
That's a really good idea. Assuming of course, that a person's dogs will not decide it's fun to decapitate chickens who stick their heads through the fence. Labs are horrible about this, and I've never figured out why.
Just guessing that the Great Pyrenees in your dogs overcomes the need to kill the animals for fun. Those are amazing dogs.I just got 6 new chickens a couple weeks ago. Just about ready to start laying (didn't want to mess with chicks). One of the new ones got out of the chicken run and into the dog run. Dogs didn't bother it at all. It then got out of the dog run and pretty much free ranged the rest of the day. I was on pins and needles that day since I had no idea how I was going to get it back into it's new home. At dusk, it hopped the fence to the dog run, then tried to find a way into the chicken run. I chased it around the chicken run to the now just opened chicken run door and in it went. It had only been there about 5-6 hours, max and knew exactly where home was. Pretty smart chicken. |
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Posted: 5/10/2017 11:27:23 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I've been using the Cheeper Keeper for over a year now, and although it isn't cheap, it is very reliable! Works of a photo cell and opens and closes with great regularity so the chickens are always in at closing ... one year going on the original set of AA batteries. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/284937/rsz-91uoeyr8vol-sl1500--199447.jpg |
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Posted: 5/11/2017 12:08:43 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I bought the best door design I could find, the Ador1. It cost me over $200. It worked great, just perfect for almost a year. Then it died, and it was under warranty so i contacted them multiple times through email and got no answer. I tried calling multiple times and no one answered. So I had to spend another $200 and this time I just got the ruggedized ChickenGuard motor and tied it to the Ador door. If I had it to do all over again then I would get the Pullet Shut door. The design isn't as ideal as the Ador1, but it has been around longer and has a good reputation. |
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Posted: 5/11/2017 11:49:59 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
They haven't bothered them so far. I just got 6 new chickens a couple weeks ago. Just about ready to start laying (didn't want to mess with chicks). One of the new ones got out of the chicken run and into the dog run. Dogs didn't bother it at all. It then got out of the dog run and pretty much free ranged the rest of the day. I was on pins and needles that day since I had no idea how I was going to get it back into it's new home. At dusk, it hopped the fence to the dog run, then tried to find a way into the chicken run. I chased it around the chicken run to the now just opened chicken run door and in it went. It had only been there about 5-6 hours, max and knew exactly where home was. Pretty smart chicken. Do not be fooled by thinking chickens are dumb. They are not. She is, however, stubborn, and once she has her day out, you may have to look forward to more such days out, because now she knows she CAN. She is Jonathan Livingston Chicken. Chickens are smart, and single minded about what they want, and stubborn, at times. And sometimes that means said chicken gets killed by predators or (if she's leading other chickens to be malcontents) end up in the soup pot. The one good thing about raising chicks is that you handle them (purposely) and love on them every day, and they get tame. So you can just walk over and pick them up. This is the best kind of animal husbandry, but is not always practical, as you have demonstrated. There is a universal law, by the way. You should be familiar with it, if you're going to adopt semi-adult birds. **One person cannot catch a duck. Or a chicken who does not wish to be caught.** Remember this. Take a second person. |
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