An instructional video showing How to make your own reliable and safe Automatically opening & closing Chicken hutch/coop door.
This video demonstrates two similar doors, each made from different materials, and slightly different components, and then clearly & easily shows how you can build the Auto Chicken door yourself, step by step, using components that require little or no soldering.
Our very first Auto chicken door which we built years ago is still operating today, and has done without hiccups or problems.
A long time ago I went onto "Backyard Poultry" and saw many difficult to follow electrical diagrams. I instead designed my own system, and posted an electrical diagram, which has since been used by others, modified, and put onto you tube.
This system, as shown above, is my own original system. Whilst it has been suggested that you can get away with using only one relay switch, this system uses two relays, and the reason is simple: Two relay switches means that the system uses less electricity, which can be vital for reliability when using battery power. This system doesn't need to keep a relay switch charged/connected for up to 12 hours. Instead, each relay switch only draws electricity for about 1 - 2 minutes, every 24 hours, thus saving a great deal of battery power, and increasing the reliability of the system - paramount for the safety of our birds, especially when predators are about. And for the very minimal cost of an extra relay switch, why wouldn't you do it properly, and make the system more reliable?
We hope you have a lot of fun building this, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes from having a reliable Automatically opening & closing Chicken hutch/coop door.
Best of Luck,
David Poland.