Automatic pop-hole opener

[Flummery]

Anyone tried one?
It's not just that I'm an idle bum (ok, it's not JUST that I'm an idle bum!) but I'm thinking of the occasional holiday when it woud be much easier to get my sister to come round and feed the hens if she didn't have to get round REALLY early to let them out.

Do they work - are they worth it? Etc.

[Noodle]

I haven't but know pwopl who have and think they're brill! I have gone for making the run fox proof. I know this can never be 100%, but it means that when I 'm at work I don't worry so much as in winter I get home after dark. I guess it depends on your situation. I would worry that one would get caught outside.

[Snadger]

I haven't but know pwopl who have and think they're brill! I have gone for making the run fox proof. I know this can never be 100%, but it means that when I 'm at work I don't worry so much as in winter I get home after dark. I guess it depends on your situation. I would worry that one would get caught outside.

Me too,........Ditto........

[frias]

I hate getting up early now it's so cold, I have also been very tempted to get one of these. Is it possible to get one that has a timer that could be set to shut a bit later rather than a dawn/dusk timer? Or one that opens at dawn but doesn't shut later?

[Glutton4...]

I'm going to move mine to the other side of my folks' garden. There they'll get a later morning, by about half an hour or so, which is useful to me in the mornings, but they'll also get the sun (ha-ha) well, daylight an hour longer in the evenings, and they'll be warmer.

These electronic thingys sound like a great idea, but I'm not sure I'd trust them.

[vicky]

I have one and I think it's FANTASTIC!!!!! Or even better than that! Expensive but worth it!
I can see the run from the kitchen so I can check what's happening out there and I have a motion sensitive light (fox scarer/alerter) on the coop that only works at night so if they were out at night it would go on (although if they were roosting and motionless this wouldn't work...!) Anyhow, it's worked fine and none have EVER been shut out at night! I think it closes something like 10mins after dark? And you can get ones that work by timer - but you have to alter it to match time of year.
It takes a lot of the worry about being at home at the right time - and just remembering to shut the pophole away. Plus they can get up at the crack of dawn and I don't have to (well, if I didn't have a 2 yr old I wouldn't!). Also better if you go on holiday (what's that?) and neighbours are looking after the girls.
Idle bum Vicky!

[lynda66]

i'm planning on just making the hole draught proof probably with a tunnel or something, so they can come and go as they want ..... thinking ahead to when i get ducks, (which apparently don't go in to roost like chickens) and as i don't tend to keep 'normal' hours (sometimes i get to sleep about 3am and up at 7, but if the dog and cats have a lie in too, it could be lunchtime before i get up or can actually do the moving thing) the run will have to have a roof and fox proof base anyway, as we have a resident fox.

[frias]

Lynda, you are right about the ducks. My neighbours ducks are spashing around at midnight.

[Birdie Wife]

I have had one, got it cheaper as it was second hand but it still worked brilliantly for ages, but I think the motor burned out, probably when it was really wet and cold, and the door froze on the coop. I sent it off and it was fixed for a while but broke again. I think it would work best in an area not so prone to freezing ice . I decided not to get it fixed again for the sole reason that I have three coops now (addictive, this hobby ) and I can't afford automatic openers for all of them so I'm just going to have to get up and let them out myself.

It was a fanstastic boon when it was working though, and being able to set the timer was great in sumer (so the cockerels weren't up and crowing at sunrise 3.30am and in the middle of winter when I get home well after dark. I would definitely recommend it!

[janeyo]

We have one, it's brill

janeyo

[Glutton4...]

Okay okay, I'm convinced!

I confess I'm useless at getting up in the mornings, so an automatic doobrie-firkin would be fab.

Where from - how much?

...disappears to look on eBay...

[pipscariad]

Well, I haven't got one, but I do have a scheme which means I still get to lie in at the weekends - can't nip out in me jimjams 'cos my hens are a mile and a half away at the veg plot. So, my set up is eglu inside an electric fence enclosure (fence stays on 24/7), and I shut them into the eglu run (which Omlet claim is foxproof.....) at a time to suit me pm, then leave the door to the house bit open all the time, so they puts themselves to bed when it suits them. Likewise, in the morning they come out when they want and I liberate them into the bigger enclosure at a convenient time. I did do some research via Omlet site to see if others did the doors open thing and it seems quite common. I reckon mine will have acclimatised by now, and I always make sure their house backs onto the prevailing wind.

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Glutton4, have a look for Wells Poultry Housing (aka the chicken house man - Simon Wells)

[Glutton4...]

Aaah - many thanks! X

[Flummery]

So - is it secure when closed. I'm thinking of instances I've heard of where foxes have got into people's hen-runs and scraped or gnawed open the door. And if one hen stays out and you go to check, can you over-ride it without cobbling up the mechanism?