AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOOR

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INSTALLING AN AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOOR DOES TWO AMAZING THINGS FOR YOU. FIRST, IT WILL MAKE KEEPING CHICKENS MUCH EASIER AND ENJOYABLE. SECONDLY, IT WILL HELP KEEP YOUR CHICKENS SAFE. NO MORE MISSING IMPORTANT FAMILY EVENTS AND WORRYING ABOUT YOUR CHICKENS FOR THOSE TIMES YOU ARE RUNNING LATE GETTING HOME.

SOME IMPORTANT HISTORY ABOUT KEEPING CHICKENS WITH AN AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOOR

I have kept chickens for many years. In fact, upon my move from Dallas to the Texas Hill Country, the very first purchase I made was a few chicks. Of course we moved the week before Easter and it was just too tempting not to enter the gateway to homesteading. At the time my children were very young and life was kinda… well chaotic. We had bought a 1880’s German rock home a few months before leaving Dallas and it needed a ton of renovating! So while we worked on getting the main house livable, I lived in a travel trailer with my five very young children. Can you guess where my chickens lived? They didn’t have any issues with living in the main house until we finished fixing it up!

I knew absolutely nothing about raising chicks, but luckily the owner of the feed store where I bought them told me to put a light on them for warmth. So the chicks lived in the rock house and we lived in the travel trailer. We were very fortunate that the farmstead had a chicken coop that was in great condition, so as soon as the chicks were old enough we moved them to their new home.

Since March of 2002, I have been a keeper of chickens. My life changed in that I was no longer free to be away from home in the early morning or late evening. If for some reason we were late getting home, I was so worried that eventually it was just not worth it to be gone. The children grew and began participating in activities that took us out of town until after dark but my job of chicken door keeper never changed. There were times we would go places and would hire someone to go twice daily and take care of the chickens. Although this would help us get by, it wasn’t something feasible to do very often.

DID THE AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOOR CHANGE MY LIFE?

The first time I had ever heard of an automatic chicken door was in 2014. A friend in my community told me about the company ChickenDoors.com, and we ordered one to try it out. All I can say is this is “the best money we have ever spent”. Mr. Rueffer installed the first door and within one week we ordered two more automatic doors. The rest is history! Since then, we have loved every minute of not having to worry or hire someone to open and close our chickens doors. Every new chicken coop always gets an automatic chicken door installed. So yes, we highly recommend buying an automatic chicken door for your coop.

WHY ARE CHICKENS WORTH INVESTING FINANCIAL RESOURCES INTO?

After many years of homesteading, I would say that chickens are a must have farm animal for those seeking a self-reliant lifestyle. These guys definitely offer a great return on your investment. Fresh eggs are a wonderful, nutrient-dense food from free-range hens. After the hens have completed their cycle of laying eggs, then they provide meat and bone broth for the family. Also, if you have hens that will hatch chicks and raise them this will produce more food almost for free. We incubate fertilized eggs from our flock and increase our numbers each year, you can watch how we do this here. By fall, we have extra roosters that will provide meat and bone broth for the winter for our family. This is very important because we only eat chicken that we raise on our farm. Raising chickens is food security and will be more important as time goes on. An automatic chicken door will help keep your chickens safe!

HOW TO ORDER AN AUTOMATIC DOOR FROM CHICKENDOORS.COM?

Before you are ready to order it is a good idea to read about the two options to operate the automatic door. They also offer several sizes of doors to choose from such as chicken, pullet, and turkey doors. Also you will need to decide which power option fits your needs.

Two power options:

Solar panel with battery system if you do not have power to your coop.
Trickle charger/ battery charging system if you have power to your coop.

Two options to operate the doors:

Programmable door that allows you to program a specific time to open and close.
Photo sensor option that allows the sun to open and close the door.

Three size are offered:

Standard
Small
Turkey

We use the photo sensor, solar panel with battery, and standard size door for all of our mobile chicken coops.

CHICKENDOORS.COM HAS EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WE LOVE THEIR STORY.

INSTALLING YOUR NEW AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOOR IS EASY

Mr. Rueffer made a how-to video just for you! Please watch!

THOUGHTS ABOUT CHICKEN KEEPING

Chickens are a gateway farm animal for beginner homesteaders.
Chickens require very little hands-on care and give you so much food!
Please keep them safe from predators and dogs.
Sometimes predators are from the sky. Keep an eye out for chicken hawks!
Chickens need a routine of going to roost in a safe place at night.
A predator-proof coop is very important and not worth taking chances on an inferior one.
At our farmstead we have invested in lots of high game fencing to give our chickens the safest haven possible.
We do not allow any pets or visitors with pets on our farm as we value every chicken life here.
Our chickens are one of the main sources of fertilizer for our gardens and orchard, therefore what they eat is very important.
During the winter our chickens till our gardens and get them ready for planting.
If you are fortunate enough to have a family milk cow she will provide clabber for your chickens. They love it!

TIPS

Always use the door for a few days to make sure it works before you go out of town.
Go out after dark for several days to make sure the chickens go into the coop before the door shuts.
Be aware that some predators will learn the routine when the door opens and be waiting.
Make sure when you are planning your coop you keep in mind which direction the door will open and the correct door opening sizes.

CHICKEN TRAINING

We spend several days training the chickens using net wire before we turn them loose. They need to learn to come back to the coop in a timely manner to be inside before the door closes. This only takes a few days and is totally worth your effort.

While training the chickens, I like to go outside and check on them after dark. If some of the chickens did not go inside the coop then gently put them inside. Keep doing this every night until all of the chickens go inside the coop. Then you can remove the net wire but I wouldn’t move the coop.
Chickens almost have a GPS system and they will return to the spot they call home even if the spot is empty. If you move their coop too far they will return to the spot the coop was at, panic, and begin looking for a place to hide.
Well, we have been there and it’s not fun to look for chickens in the dark and put them in their coop. This causes stress for you and the chickens.

HOMESTEADING LIFESTYLES ARE MAKING A COMEBACK

Mankind has lived an agrarian lifestyle up until recent times. Things are changing and many of us are returning to a quieter, gentler way of life. Learning the lost art of homesteading will be very important in the future. We believe chickens can benefit your farm not only because of the food they provide, but also for their help in keeping pest away from your garden, till your garden for you, and fertilize your soil. Even if you are living a busy lifestyle at the moment and dream of moving to a farm one day, buying an automatic chicken door will help you get a start on your dream! If you want some tips on moving from the city to a farm watch this!