Chicken door Thoughts

[smokinmad]

Stick with the radio antenna motor, but mount your door to a pair of drawer slides on top and bottom and let the door slide open and closed sideways. A good set of drawer slides will hold up to any varmint pushing on it and not cause much resistance on the antenna motor...]

I've been looking at some of these doors that you can buy, that use a Actuator, you can buy them pretty reasonably. And they look a lil' more secure than a antennae motor, seems I remember lower a antennae by hand one time....

 

[smokinmad]

I appreciate every ones responses, sometimes I can Think It, I just can't get it to work.......I'm not afraid to ask......

Thanks Smokin'

 

[jwmorris]

I looked at the ones available and some of the homemade versions then through my pile of "stuff" and built this one.

It's an old pool valve controller, a sheet of aluminum and some Tyvar (plastic) that had some slots cut in them I used as a track for tha aluminum.

I used this lamp timer

And a DPDT relay, so you put around half the "pegs" up and the others down and the door opens/shuts based on when the relay is energized or not. The pool valve is quite strong but very slow, takes 30 seconds or so to open/close, so your not chopping chickens up and nothing can lift it from the closed position.

 

[ArXane]

We have had an antenna build for about 3 years in our coop. I made a slot that the door drops down into to keep coons or anything else from getting there claws under it to push up. Never have had an issue with anything getting in. I can get a pic of the lower door part if you want.

Link to coop post HERE

 

[smokinmad]

Ok Gals and Guys.......

Found this by mikeandlauren.com, an he actually got it to work, with a radio antennae. I like the door fastened to the Drawer Slides, looks very secure. I am going to buy an actuator and try one that way. This is his wiring diagram, the 1st box from battery is to House everything. He cut a round hole in it's lid so the Timer was accessible without having to open the lid.


This was a comment left on the youtube page, some very good points...[[Nice video.....thou you do not need the DPDT as the antenna will automatically retract when one of the power leads are removed by way of timer.Also, the bottom draw rail will very soon fill with dirt (freeze in colder weather) and chicken poop and seize. The antenna has very little power to overcome resistance especially on the extending stroke. I know because one of my first designs was exactly the same. To eliminate this put the door on the vertical as the antenna has more power pulling in the antenna (ie opening the door) and the drawer slides will not fill with dirt....... thou rusting and freezing will still be a problem.Over the years I have found that antenna version of my coop door was not as secure(because of issues mentioned) as what I wanted so I now use an 12" actuator piston (with built in limit switches), photocell, DPDT(needed for this to reverse polarity) and a 12 volt transformer. This version works like a charm. Not putting your door down....it will work fine....just continuing to build a better "mouse trap".]]

Here is the link for anyone else following.....DIY Automatic Chicken Coop Door Opener Build | PART 3 - YouTube

 

[ArXane]

Ok Gals and Guys.......

Found this by mikeandlauren.com, an he actually got it to work, with a radio antennae. I like the door fastened to the Drawer Slides, looks very secure. I am going to buy an actuator and try one that way. This is his wiring diagram, the 1st box from battery is to House everything. He cut a round hole in it's lid so the Timer was accessible without having to open the lid.
View attachment 508106

This was a comment left on the youtube page, some very good points...[[Nice video.....thou you do not need the DPDT as the antenna will automatically retract when one of the power leads are removed by way of timer.Also, the bottom draw rail will very soon fill with dirt (freeze in colder weather) and chicken poop and seize. The antenna has very little power to overcome resistance especially on the extending stroke. I know because one of my first designs was exactly the same. To eliminate this put the door on the vertical as the antenna has more power pulling in the antenna (ie opening the door) and the drawer slides will not fill with dirt....... thou rusting and freezing will still be a problem.Over the years I have found that antenna version of my coop door was not as secure(because of issues mentioned) as what I wanted so I now use an 12" actuator piston (with built in limit switches), photocell, DPDT(needed for this to reverse polarity) and a 12 volt transformer. This version works like a charm. Not putting your door down....it will work fine....just continuing to build a better "mouse trap".]]

Here is the link for anyone else following.....DIY Automatic Chicken Coop Door Opener Build | PART 3 - YouTube

This is the one I used: HERE

 

[smokinmad]

"JW".......nice job....that motor almost looks like a window wiper motor

Thanks...Smokin'

 

[smokinmad]

This is the one I used: HERE

That's Funny....I actually have that one stored on my computer in a file......
So you got it to work? That's a good selling point....

Thanks....Smokin'

 

[smokinmad]

Wow....found this while researching Chicken Doors......Might just have to save my pennies and buy theirs...You don't many companies that will do this.....

MY HAT IS OFF TO....AUTOMATIC CHICKEN COOP DOOR.......Thanks for Who You Are....

{{Automatic Chicken Coop Door is not only a company that makes great chicken keeping products, but they also are actively involved in humanitarian efforts around the world.
History on us: This is a family business. My father made the prototype in early 2009 that operates our coop today. We originally created over 100+ designs before coming up with the one we sell today. We manufacture the doors ourselves here in the USA (no outsourcing). In 6 years of operation we have sold over 6,000 products.
We also have a large tie to humanitarian efforts in India. Last year we donated over $12,000.00 to help build an orphanage and drill clean water wells in West Bengal India (about 15% of sales). Automatic Chicken Coop Door personally went of our own expense to India to ensure that every dollar of the money was spent to drill wells in the villages that needed it most. We were saddened to find so many people suffering from such a simple need of clean drinking water. We drilled 11 drinking wells in villages and now the children there have a well reaching 350 ft deep to provide the cleanest water possible, which is unheard of in this part of the world. Automatic Chicken Coop Door also dug an irrigation well for this area because the land surrounding the orphanage was a sandy soil and crops could only be grown for no more than a few months out of the year and farmers were forced to leave their families to find work so they could feed them. Digging the irrigation well allowed the farmers to return to their homes and families.
This year we have help sponsor the building of an orphanage with 15% of our sales. This with the help of a local church near us helped build a 10,000 sq foot orphanage to be a school and housing for several orphans in that area. We will also now be an annual sponsor helping to educated and fund this operation. We will always keep a minimum of 15% for humanitarian efforts. ~Jeremy Smith of Automatic Chicken Coop Door}}

 

[ArXane]

That's Funny....I actually have that one stored on my computer in a file......
So you got it to work? That's a good selling point....

Thanks....Smokin'

Yup worked great. I had extra power supplies from work so it didnt cost me that much to do. Im actually surprised how good that opener works. Its ran the up/down cycle for the three years.

Saying that.. I agree with what you just posted about the automatic chicken door company, I would of supported that.