Automatic chicken door?

[Heartbased Homestead]

Hi rabbit friends. I'm planning on upgrading my colony for the winter by adding an outdoor run which the chickens and rabbits can access during the day, but still go in at night. I am looking at this automatic door but I wanted to check here in case anyone had experiences/warnings to share about this endeavor. We are in the mountains and do have foxes, raccoons, cats, hawks, eagles, and the rest here. My dog does a pretty good job of keeping the predators out of my backyard, though once a cat squeezed into my trampoline chicken run (no casualties), let the dog in the run and she ignored the chickens and went straight to chasing off the would-be thief. I don't think it'll come back. Pretty sure the raccoons and foxes are even less willing to make an attempt, haven't seen any sign of them, and the bear avoids us too in lieu of our neighbors trashcans. My pup's almost as big as the black bear and she's not even 1 year old yet.

The other chicken run, which I plan to build to connect to the rabbit coop will be even more insecure, no top. So any animal could possibly crawl right in. Should I add something to the top, though? I plan to use cattle panels, and chicken wire on the bottom so critters (including my dog) can't dig into it. Sides too, ofc. I'll probably have to reinforce with hardware cloth too in case of the baby buns... what do you all think?

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

And please share any issues with chicken doors, auto chicken doors, and chicken-rabbit combos if anyone has any experience - I need your expertise!

 

[eco2pia]

I had one that I loved for about a year until it stopped working--the batteries die, and water can get in and hasten that process. It might be good to plan to check on that regularly.

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

I've seen that the batteries are only guaranteed for a year and wondered about that. Were there any repercussions when it broke? I thought there would be a door which the chickens could learn to open themselves without all the mechanics and electronics involved, but it looks like that hasn't been invented yet

 

[eco2pia]

I noticed and just left it open until I have time to fix it. The batteries are replaceable, but I have been busy and you do have to take it apart to get to them.

 

[tambayo]

Nightpredators are active untill 1-1.5 hours after sunrise and the daypredators wake up hungry from first light (that is well before actual sunrise farther north like up here) and vice versa at sunset. So program that door well, it needs to open late enough in the morning and they need to be back in well before sunset. If that conflicts with your work schedule, keep them locked up. You wouldn't be the first to miscalculate and come home to a mess. Most predators know very well your animals are there. And when young and stupid/hungry will even try in the middle of the day. Put a net/mesh whatever top on that run. Your "friendly" neighbourhood predator is only waiting for a good time to shop from you, and they have the whole day or night to watch and try. If they are succesfull once they'll be back every day for years and try harder. In that case remove all animals out after the first time and build the real fort knox you didn't before, because a temporary fix will just be overcome and teach them more ways of breaking in.

 

[Scooter1A]

I would use fencing to secure the top of your new run.