automatic doors

[mybabyweightiseightyearsold]

Still uhmming and ahing -

anyone got light sensitive coop doors? My latest notion is to get a plastic coop with an automatic door on it - that way I can relax a bit in the winter when it's dark by 3pm. I don't want to worry about the chooks when it's dark before we get home after swimming etc.

They are expensive - worth it?

Ours put themselves to bed and get up and out whenever the feel like it and are in a predator proof coop/run so never worried. I would worry if i had one incase one of them was locked out.

Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't thought about one being locked out - only about secutiy from predators...but, was planning a run with tazers and heat seeking missiles anyway.

It seems like a really great idea - but I don't think they are theat popular, adn there must be a reason for that!

:o

Never tried them myself, purely because of the sheer expense - and I suspect that that's a big reason why they aren't very popular.

Never tried them but have mixed review from chicken keeping friends. problems seem to be that sometimes when it goes over dark they have closed, leaves on the sensor etc meeting the coop is shut and the girls all milling around outside waiting to be got. personally i also think like an electric fence i just wouldnt trust it to do the job as round here you only have to miss one night and they are gone so i would be out checking it anyway!

I'm trying to make a run that is as easy to maintain as possible. We live in suburbia, and the neighbours aren't against us getting chooks - but not exactly for it either. Other neighbours used to keep them and had a noisy cockerel, we won't be doing that.

Also, hubby is not keen. He was reared with chickens, has lots of bad memories of missing the winning goal after slipping in poo, and being attacked by the cockerel.

So - am hoping to make it so that the chooks can be left alone for a weekend...plastic coop (hose down, keep smells down; raised on legs for a dustbath and shelter from rain, and reduce chance of vermin, and light enough to move regularly and save the grass), a base for the run with wire under it (so it's dig-proof~), woodchips or rubberchips over that for them to scratch in (keep em happy, and change to keep smell down) a hopper or spring feeder (reduce spilled feed and so keep vermin risk down) and an automatic door so that they could be left for a weekend (assuming my blokie wants to whisk me away to Paris all of a sudden. I am fairly confident that the chooks will have company all weekend, every weekend)

Also, planning on bantams, with feathered legs, so they won't be quite as scratchy as big old hens...hopefully that'll help the garden. Though, they'll only get out when we're in the garden anyway, the rest of the time they'll have free range in the run.

My partner-in-crime at the school gate is thinking of doing the same, so we'd chook-sit for each other on holidays.

As far as the expense goes - well, I'm going back to work. And, I think that an extra £100 to blow on a stupid door is worth it, if it persuades grumpy-breeks that chickens would be a lovely addition to our family...

Next summer. That's when he'll be broken. And, it'll take me at LEASt that long to save up the (how much?!) cash for this chicken eutopia I have in mind.

So jealous of you all. Seriously, my chicken envy is bad. Was never broody for babies (oh, the irony), but really, really, really want chooks!

@babyweight

I really wouldn't recommend leaving the chickens over a weekend, for two main reasons
a) foxes. There's no such thing as a fox-proof run, just one that is more / less fox repellent (as I found out after 6 years with the same coop :(). Eglus aren't as fox-repellent as they make out (although that wasn't the sort of coop I had)
b) automatic doors do have their flaws - as someone else mentioned, a leaf can fall on the sensor / stragglers can get shut out, so although they can be useful when it's getting dark at 3pm, they still need to be checked.
c) they can knock over the water / crap in it, and be left without a water supply. Even 24 hours of no water can severely and permanently impact on a hen's egg laying capacity.

Couldn't your partner in crime at the school gates / a neighbour's sensible older child look in on them (I find cash works wonders here)?

Hadn't thought about that - it's come from the eglu site saying that their feeders mean it's possible to leave them for a weekend.

Yep, there are folk who'd happily check on them for us. We have lovely neighbours who will happily water the greenhouse and feed our fish, they'd do it. And, for longer, my friend would take the whole jing bang into her garden.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

I've got an automatic pop-hole from Flytesofancy and I recommend it. I also have one of their chicken protection pens with an anti-dig skirt and an electric fence and I do leave my hens for up to two nights occasionally (with multiple water supplies and extra food). Longer than that and I get a chicken-sitter (£8 a day round here).

I recommend Pekins.

THanks, Lizza. Those coops are nicer than my house! Have been drooling over them for aaaages.

Why do you recommend Pekins? They are on my wish list because I've read they are less scratchy than your average chicken. The main functiomn of the hens will be pets for the kids, do you find them friendly?

Well I love MY Pekin because she looks very cute and cuddly but in fact she is a total madam who bosses around the others (who are more than twice her size) and her owner! I've looked after others who are so friendly they will start grooming your hair and picking bits out of your teeth (sounds gross but is quite cute) if you sit them on your knee

In general I think Pekins are good because

• they don't mind/actively like being petted and picked up so are excellent for kids
• they are small and easy for children to handle (my Pekin weighs around 1kg whereas my hybrids are 2.5-3kg)
• they are very pretty, especially if you get a mix of colours
• they are quite hardy
• they don't do much damage to gardens
• they are quite assertive and will hold their own with bigger chickens
• they have a good life expectancy
• you get a decent number of eggs through the summer

Downsides:

• the cockerels can be a bit aggressive
• they can get mudballs stuck in their feathered feet (I pick them out around once a week)
• if they get a condition called scaley leg mite you might not notice it easily because of their feathers, so you need to check for this every so often
• the eggs are small and they can lay intermittently (and not at all over winter)

I have an auto pop hole (dh bought it for me for xmas so I can lie-in on Sundays) which we have had no problems with so far. We use it as a kind of back-up so if we are out late they are safe but I do still check on them to make sure no-one gets locked out (this has NEVER happened). Our chooks have kind of two runs one which the pop hole lets them out into in the morning which is (hopefully) fox-proof and a bigger area which they are let out in when we are around. Our feeder and drinker hang from the roof of the hen house so no problem with getting muck in them or getting kicked over and they are now at a height which the chooks reach fine but is too high for a rat to access (I know this cos ive seen the feckers try). Rats are a new development for us but we seem to have them under control now. We have 6 lovely ex-bats and it took me and the kids about 3 years to persuade dh to let us get them so I know what thats like but he does love them now (and has put cctv in their house and watches them when hes at work - lol).

CCTV in a coop? A man gadget? brilliant, that's only going to help!

Right, pekins and pop hole and CCTV on wish list...

...though, we are now looking at doing an extension over the summer so I think I'll wait until after that's done. building work will only upset chooks - and I want happy hens.

Love my auto closing door. Genius

I have just bought an automatic door closer but one that operates off a timer rather than a sensor. I will have to go and alter the times every so often but it works great and means that the ladies can come out early in the morning without me having to get up and let them out. BTW I got mine off ebay with the £25 off Paypal voucher that was on offer recently, so if there's another offer on like that then it works out very reasonable, around £65.

The reason for buying this is for when I am on holiday, and although I have someone who will come and feed/check the hens, they won't want to come twice a day early and late to fit in with the ladies' summer roosting times!

thanks, Western...

Hubby still resitant - but, I have a new plan! Think I might get a small outdoor aviary with budgies and quails on the bottom...that way I'll get some eggs, and wear him down. Bwa ha ha