automatic chicken doors? affordable options.

[ginny_e]

Hello!! It's been awhile since I've posted, my chicks have grown, and three of the four are laying consistently.

I'd like to get an automatic chicken door, but geez are they expensive. I saw the most affordable options the Titan Incubators chicken door got dicey reviews, but they put out a new model in July 2018. Anyone get the new one? Any recommendations for a decent affordable chicken door?

We are going on vacation in a few weeks, I'd like to install it sooner rather than later. We have people watching our chickens, but it would be less for them to do (and us on the weekends ).

I should add, I want one that is battery powered, and programmable (not light sensor).

 

[rosemarythyme]

The only truly cheap option I'm aware of is to DIY. There's a few people on here who've made their own, or maybe if you know someone who likes tinkering with electronics they could build one?

I'm using a ChickenGuard door so that's battery and programmable, but not sure what price range it is that you're looking for.

 

[jthornton]

Yea a DIY door is the most cost effective and fun to make but you gotta put the time in to learn how to make it work. I've built several and I'm still tweaking the code to run them. I use a library called astral to get the daily sun events so I can close the door each day at dusk and open the door and turn on the lights when I want.

JT

 

[Tsheaby]

Check out my DIY affordable automatic door tutorial!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-diy-automatic-chicken-door.1295391/#post-21071234

 

[Tsheaby]

Yea a DIY door is the most cost effective and fun to make but you gotta put the time in to learn how to make it work. I've built several and I'm still tweaking the code to run them. I use a library called astral to get the daily sun events so I can close the door each day at dusk and open the door and turn on the lights when I want.

JT

I made one using a timer, DPDT relay, and a Linear Actuator! It’s been amazingly convenient.

 

[Rasputin66]

I bought one on eBay from Titan Incubators for $75. It's been running great. I decided it wasn't worth it to spend eight hours looking for scrap parts and putting it together when I could just buy one already assembled. It takes AAs.