Comments for Chris and Keri's Blog

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door by Beginners guide to keeping Chickens

Beginners guide to keeping Chickens — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:19:34 +0000

[...] a little searching on the internet I came accross “Chris and Keri’s blog” which showed a nice simple design for an opener. All the others I had seen beforehand did [...]

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by dave

dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:41:15 +0000

i love your design! i’ve been tryinr to do something similar for years. I want to add a light sensitve switch so it opens at first light and closes at dusk. where would i add it into the circut? when i get it working i’ll send some pics.
this is the switch i’ll use http://www.fabiens.org/ckblog/?p=113#comment-1117

Comment on Goat Barn Part 2 - It’s under roof by Old Guy

Old Guy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:32:42 +0000

Looks great. Helluva lot of work!

Old Guy

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by chris

chris — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:43:32 +0000

Shane: I already had the lights in my coop wired to a timer to give them the right amount of daylight, so I ran an outlet off of that line to plug the transformer into. It could also be rigged up to work with a photo cell, though you might need a relay to get it to open at morning. Most photo cells turn on power at dark and you’d want this to be on at light.

Anna: you’d need some significant modifications to the plans to do this. First, you’d have to make the battery removable and then build an adapter for it so you could plug it into the mains power to charge it. It’s not a very large battery so I don’t think it would last that long. I think the type of timer you’d need to do it would be called a battery operated latching timer.

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by Anna

Anna — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:56:11 +0000

Hiya, your plans are brilliant!

I’ve just found all the supplies needed online to do this, but I have a question. My coop is in a place where it has no chance of a power supply, so I was wondering how to hook your plans up to a timer with power only available from the screwdriver battery? The only electrical experiance I have is changing fuses and replacing parts where everything else is already setup and works.

Great blog! I’m in love with your goats. Peanut is gorgeous.

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by Chicken Housing

Chicken Housing — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:01:14 +0000

This is a wounderfull post. Keep it up…

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by Shane

Shane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:29:37 +0000

Just curious you said that it opens and closes depending on wether the coop lights are on or off is this hardwired into your light swicth or can it be pluged ito a timer or better yet a light sensor? I am fairly handy but need direction when it comes to elecric circuits. Thanks

Comment on Installing Underground Utilities by Leon

Leon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:05:14 +0000

Hi Chris,

What kind of wire did you use for the electric? Or it’s just the conduit for now?

Very nice blog, by the way. I wish more people did these how-to style presentations like you did for the chicken coop door opener.

Comment on Introducing Nilla, Peanut and Cocoa! by David Montijo

David Montijo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:20:46 +0000

I love your chicken door. Thanks!!! I want to make my own. I want to have it run by a DC timer. I have found one on line but it is $60.00 This is a little more than I want to spend. Would you know where to get one for less? Thanks, Dave

Comment on Automatic Chicken Door Opener by Jack Strubel

Jack Strubel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:51:17 +0000

I somehow pulled it off, I did it right and it works, I wont be installing it till tomorrow, because I am still frustrated from trying to solder those tiny wires and posts by myself, but I did it.
I got a peice of corian left over from a job and will try to make a shelter for the motor