Wasted $60 on a fancy automatic chicken door, went back to a manual latch after 2 weeks

Honestly thought I was being smart buying one of those solar powered auto doors for the coop. Spent about $60 on Amazon and it worked great for the first 3 days. Then the timer got off because of clouds or something and locked my hens out at 4pm while it was still light. Had to run home from work to let them in. Took it off and went back to my old sliding latch with a brick on top, never had a problem since. Anyone else have better luck with those auto doors or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerk567d ago

... my buddy tried one of those and his raccoons figured out how to claw their way under it by the second week. He found three of his birds dead and the door hanging half open... it was a mess. I stick with my old bungee cord setup, it ain't pretty but nothing's getting past it.

kim_smith7d ago

A heavy brick sitting on top of the door did the trick for me... propped it up just enough to close tight but not enough to lift. Took the raccoons a few tries but they gave up after that. Made sure the whole latch area was clear of any little gaps they could pry at.