The chicken coop has, since The Hand finished building it, had this half-height door. It worked okay, but there were some problems when we started letting the chickens out to free-range in the afternoons.
- it required a trip to the coop to open it
- we needed to prop the door open so the chickens could return to the coop for shelter and laying
- the sheep always wanted into the chicken coop, and would aggressively jump in once the door was open, risking injury to the chickens
- the sheep in the coop would tear up the floor and make it muddy during rains
- doves or pigeons would come in through the open door, and for some reason couldn’t figure out how to get out (I even cut a passage in the chicken wire to facilitate exit, but it didn’t help); they’d stay in, beating against the wire until we physically removed them or the chickens pecked them to death
- it took another trip in the evening to close the door
I read about chicken doors, and was designing my own when I found one on Amazon for only about $40. It can use a timer or daylight sensor to open and close on a schedule. It was pretty simple to install after cutting the proper size hole in the barn.
Just after I cut the hole, it started to rain. I had to put the door in, but I wasn’t able to install the solar panel. For now it should have enough charge. We’re due for another storm, so I hope the charge lasts until I can get the panel up and the sun shines. We’ll see if it keeps the pigeons out.
—2p