Poultry farm automatic chicken door install#
Poultry farm automatic chicken door upgrade#
Poultry farm automatic chicken door free#

Then, honestly, your hardware is installed. (As the bottom panel is pulled up by the string, it lifts the top panel by two protruding bolts, which I think is pretty clever.) Next, you slide the doors into the rails and put them in their permanent “open” position (I used a clamp to hold them in place) and tie the string dangling from the unit to the lower panel. Slide it down like you would a picture frame, and you’re good to go. Just attach two screws to the coop itself (you might want to make a rough template for this, which I did but not exact enough, prompting a redo and a few curse words), then pop the unit on. The actual automatic coop door opener is a small device-about the size of a paperback Stephen King novel-that hangs via two keyhole slots in the back of the unit. Three screws in each secure the rails in place.

Poultry farm automatic chicken door install#

Essentially, you just install two uPVC rails along each side of your coop-door opening, spaced the width of the included weatherproof aluminum panels. The good news, though, is that installation is easy and directions clear. And that prompts me to curse a lot, which I also don’t want to subject you to. I’m terrible about not following directions and usually end of having to redo stuff. I was going to make a video of the installation but, to be frank, I don’t want you to follow my lead. Read more: What coop and run setup is right for your yard? Why this I want this one, rather than the standard ChickSafe? The Advance model features a backup timer in addition to the built-in light sensor. We opted for Brinsea’s ChickSafe Advance Door Opener and Door Kit, which the company provided for the purposes of this review. It was time to break down and get that automatic coop door opener I’ve dreamed about since that first quartet of production red pullets came into our life. But with talk turning to vaccines and something called “normal life,” our family dinner conversations have recently turned to dream vacations.īut, then, what would we do with the chickens? They’ve got light sensors and/or timers, so the door just opens right up when the sun pops up (and the keeper stays happily supine).Īnd many take tight spaces into consideration, with multi-paneled doors that cut the required overhead space dramatically.ĭuring the interminable (or seemingly) COVID-19 pandemic, when my family sat at home all day, every day for most of 2020, chicken-keeping has been pretty easy. Many run at low power on batteries, so you no longer need extension cords and dangerous wires.

Poultry farm automatic chicken door free#

These gadgets were once cumbersome affairs, requiring wires and outlets and plug-in timers and who knows what else to spare the keeper the chore of turning a coop-door latch to free fussy hens.īut in recent years, these automatic coop door openers have gotten mighty slick. What I’ve always wanted, though, is an automatic coop door opener. Read more: Your chicken coop is only as good as your doors and gates-so get good ones! The chickens would, once again, take over weekend mornings. But then, of course, the pandemic hit and we, like so many people, ended up with a box of chicks in the basement, a coop out back and a creeping realization. Weekend mornings felt like a joyful gift we’d somehow gifted ourselves. Then, a few years ago, we moved away from the daily activities at the family farm. (As backyard chicken-keepers turned small-scale poultry farmers who reverted to a backyard flock, we’ve known a lot of beaks.) We awoke early, emerging grumbling into the early-morning sun to release whatever birds lived with us in a given moment.

My hens have no concept of “weekend,” though, and that puts us at odds when dawn breaks and they decide it’s time to get outside and do their chicken things.įor the better part of a decade, my family has just done what we had to when keeping chickens.

But when Saturday rolls around, my inclination to rise with the sun is somewhere bewteen nil and zero. By then, my alarm has already bore the brunt of my disgust. I, on the other hand, am more night owl than early bird.ĭuring the workweek, I can drag myself to the coop to release the ladies from the secured coop easily enough. They’re hardcore diurnal creatures, up at the break of dawn every morning.

Poultry farm automatic chicken door upgrade#

And the opportunities to mend, upgrade and clean their living areas are appreciated when I’m feeling anxious or bored.īut I do not care for my chickens’ sleeping schedule. I like sitting outside and watching their antics, too-I call them my “co-workers” when I perch on the patio with a laptop.

The eggs, of course, are a major benefit. There are a lot of things I enjoy about keeping chickens.