Automatic Chicken Doors
Remembering to go out every night to close the chicken coop door became a huge chore after we moved our chickens one-eighth of a mile from the house. And then we built another coop even farther away. In winter it wasn’t so bad, because for the most part the flock is already roosting by the time we do evening chores. But during summer the chickens want to stay out and play long after my husband and I are ready to turn in for the night.
We finally decided we needed automatic chicken doors. The first ones we bought were the only ones on the market at the time, German made VSB Doorkeepers. The string-lift aluminum doors slid up and down in a pair of metal runners. They were operated by a take-up spool mounted in a control unit above the door. The spool wound up a string to open the door, and slowly fed out the string to close the door.
The doors worked quite well, other than being powered by four AA internal batteries. Changing the batteries required disassembling the control unit. We didn’t always remember to change the batteries on a regular schedule. They invariably failed during the coldest days of winter, when frozen fingers aren’t compatible with battery changing.
When we added a third coop, we got a Pullet-Shut door. It which opens and closes on a hinge, like a regular door. It came with a 12-volt rechargeable battery and a trickle charger. If the power went out, the door operated off the battery. When the power went back on, the battery recharged. Way cool!
Eventually the VSB automatic chicken doors wore themselves out — one soon after the other. So we were back in the market for automatic chicken doors. By this time, many more options had become available.
At the urging of our friend Kathy (aka The Chicken Chick) we decided to try the British made ChickenGuard Premium string-lift door opener. Other than being programmable, it operates similar to the VSB right down to the four AA batteries, but is readily adaptable to plug-in power. Rather than a battery and transformer, though, it connects via a USB cable and a wall charger of the type used to recharge smart phones.
But not just any phone recharger, as we quickly discovered. With the help of ChickenGuard’s excellent customer service, we found one that works — the Abosi universal wall charger. Even though you need only one per door, it comes in an inexpensive three-pack.
You also need a type A male-to-male USB cable long enough to reach from the ChickenGuard control unit to an indoor wall outlet. For good measure, we included a surge protector.
The ChickenGuard control unit comes with or without an aluminum door and a pair of sturdy oak runners. The door is a generous 12 inches wide by 16 inches high, enough to accommodate most chickens, guineas, ducks, and the lighter breeds of turkeys and geese.
Luckily, we were able to use the old all-metal VSB door and runners. We feared the wooden runners sold for the aluminum ChickenGuard door might warp in our humid climate. If we had had to buy a set, we would have opted for the all-metal Titan door and runners.
We needed a way to keep our dairy goats from dismantling the control unit. We happen to have some desktop wire “in” baskets that were no longer in use, so we hinged them at the top and added a small barrel bolt at the bottom to protectively cage in each control unit.
The ChickenGuard control unit comes in three models. The most basic is the “Standard,” which has a programmable timer to automatically open the door in the morning and close it at night. The “Premium,” has both a timer and a daylight sensor that work independently; for instance you can set the timer for morning opening later than sunup, and the sensor for evening closing when the sun goes down. The “Extreme” model, as the name implies, is beefed up to work in extreme climate and weather conditions.
We liked the first ChickenGuard Premium door opener so well, we installed a second one. And then the Pullet-Shut door went the way of the VSB systems, so we now have three.