Automatic Chicken Coop Door

Automatic Pop-Hole Door for Our Coop

We got one of these doors for our coop:

http://www.chickendoors.com/products.htm

It was an easy install, with only four screws used to mount the frame of the door to the coop.

We got the door with the light sensor so that we don't have to worry about programming, although we can program the door to specific times if we wish.  It can also be opened by manually actuating the motor.

This door has a "Last Chance" function which reopens the door for about ten seconds about one minute after the evening closing.  That gives any hens that dally a chance to get in.

I picked up a battery at Batteries Plus, fabricated a battery bracket from some fencing, and had it up and running in a few minutes.

So far, it has been flawless.

Gardening with Chickens

Clover sprouts are nutritious and a big hit with our hens

Now that the excitement of our first egg has settled down, Don and I are enjoying the benefit of having our chickens help us with our gardening chores. Don has built a portable pen that fits over our raised vegetable beds. Two of the beds were mostly bare, just mulched with leaves in preparation for the spring season.

Our chicken tractor links up to a raised asparagus bed in winter

Don built a pop-hole on the coop and a pop-hole in the pen over the raised bed. Then he built a narrow wooden tunnel to connect the two pop-holes. The pop-hole to the coop has a wooden cover that fits tightly at night to deter potential predators. But during the day, the chickens get more room to range, quite legally because the law requires we keep them penned. The pen also keeps them out of my winter vegetables growing undisturbed in nearby beds. Most importantly, it protects my hens from hawks that might attack them from above. We have a sturdy chain link fence around the yard, but we need to protect our birds from raptors.

The same coop viewed from the rear. Note the attached nest box.

The cover for the pop-hole to the pen

My girls have deposited some of their valuable, high-nitrogen manure in these beds, which will be much appreciated by my asparagus plants, which are heavy feeders. They've certainly found all kinds of bugs and weed seeds. I am hoping they have found any asparagus beetles and their larvae that might be overwintering in these beds. I'd like these pests to be converted to nutritious eggs while reducing my feed bills, not hatching in the spring to feed on my asparagus!

The chickens have also spread some vermicompost from our worm bins all over the bed. All we had to do was pick out the worms that we wanted to save from their voracious appetites, dump the compost in the middle of the bed, and spread a little scratch on top to encourage the girls to scratch.

The hens are checking out their new digs

A hen inpects the tunnel to her coop; pop hole visible at the rear

The girls LOVE clover! There was no trace by day's end

Chickens at Last!

Regular readers of my blog know that I've been very busy with a group called "4 Chesapeake Hens." Together we got the laws changed in Chesapeake to allow up to six backyard laying hens in residential areas with certain restrictions. Here's a news account of our success. The change was proposed by Councilman Robert Ike and enacted on November 20, 2012.

My poor husband, Don, has been working his tail off ever since. He promised that if I got the law changed, he'd help put together a set-up to keep them. So he's been fencing off about 1/3 of our backyard to try to keep our predatory hound-dogs from killing the poor chickens. He put in a fence and then buried concrete beneath it. Then he started on the chicken coop, which he designed himself. He called it a prototype, figuring he'd make mistakes and want to make changes.

Front View of the new coop with the hanging feeder and waterer

We haven't been 100% happy with the new coop, but Don is already figuring out what to change and how to improve our next one. He's going to split the roof in such a way that we don't have to disturb the chickens at their roost if all we want to do is get in the pen for something. He plans to put in a door on one end and to paint the roof to help keep water out.

Side View of the Coop

Last night I went to a local farm and finally picked my girls up. They're pullets, hatched last spring by a farmer-friend who decided to downsize her flock this year. There are two Buff Orpingtons and a Delaware. Both breeds are "dual-purpose" heritage breeds known for calm temperaments and good laying. I am in love with the Delaware, who seems friendliest and boldest of the three. She'll already peck tidbits out from between my fingertips. The Orpingtons are terrified of me so far. I hope that changes!They don't have names yet, but they will once I've gotten to know their personalities a little better.

Two Buff Orpingtons on the left looking scared; the Delaware on the right looks cautious but curious!

They didn't eat well today and were afraid to come out of their coop, perhaps afraid of our dogs that were running around on their own portion of our backyard. Don and I turned the coop tonight so they can leave the coop without the dogs seeing them, so hopefully that will make them more comfortable. Friends tell me that it will take them a week or so to settle in. Tonight's supposed to turn cold, so I hope they're comfortable enough out there!

Another view of our new flock!

Nest Box from the outside. It has a separate lid that is lifted to easily check for eggs

View of the nest box from inside the coop. The golf ball is to help give the girls the idea of where to lay; hopefully soon!

Update for 1/24/2013: The girls are eating better and starting to act more at home. Hurray!

We are also getting used to incorporating them into our daily schedules. They are not a lot of work, but someone has to be up to feed and water them every morning, and one of us has to be sure to be around to close the coop up at dusk, since we do not have an automatic pop-hole opener. At least, not yet!