Automatic Chicken Coop Door

Having an Automatic Chicken Coop Door can prove a useful addition to your coop. It can give you peace of mind if you are someone who occasionally forgets to lock your chickens in at night or in case you are not home until after dark. It can also give you the option of sleeping in without leaving some very disgruntled chickens in the coop – and generally it’s nice to have a back up.

When installing an automatic chicken coop door it is advisable to have a few test runs to iron out any potential problems before fully trusting and relying on it. From the experiences of subscribers of Keeping Chickens Newsletter.com here are a few things to watch out for :

• Changes in Daylight Hours : As the daylight hours lengthen there is a potential to lock your chickens out of the coop if the timer is not updated to reflect the new time for dusk.
• For those with a light sensor controlled automatic coop door opener the position of the coop/sensor and or surrounding landscape such as mountains, trees, valley etc. may trigger the sensor to close the door at the wrong time (so you may need to switch to using a timer instead)
• If their entrance is prone to getting things like leaves and poop stuck in the doorway that may affect it’s smooth operation (or perhaps leave an unwanted gap at the bottom)
• Power to the door – batteries eventually need replacing, power cuts can happen.
  

There are several automatic coop door kits available and even some pre-built ones. Below is a video from an automatic chicken coop door owner which cost around $150 and consisted of an Add-a-Motor D20, kitchen timer from Amazon, some wood, weather proofing and a plastic sheet from the hardware store for the door (which he is intending to change to galvanized steel roof flashing for added security)