[Elcie]

(slowly) building a chicken house and run at the allotment.  One of the biggest expenses will be the automatic door opener.  Had a thought yesterday that I wanted to run by you.  Is there any reason why I shouldn't use a clear plastic door, probably magnetised, in a similar way to cat flaps are designed, so that the chickens can just push it to go in and out of the coup?  That way it is always 'closed' but the chickens can still get in and out when they want to.

Has anyone tried this?
Would the chickens be able to push the door to get out?
Any other thoughts?

Thanks everyone.

[dizzylizzie]

well they manage to push my kitchen door open without problems he he he ...dont know how a cat flap would work tho

[Rubellite]

If the chickens can get in and out then so can Mr Fox 

[matilda duck]

There was a discusion on this a while back and I think the general concenses was that It wont work  Couldn't it be a hazard for them as anything could possibly get in their house and attack them??  I'm sure if a fox was that hungry a cat flap wouldn't be too much problem would it?




*****sorry rubellite you beat me to it

[Elcie]

Sorry, I should have said, the house will be attached to a fox proof run.  The run will have paving slabs all the way round the outside so nothing should be able to get in to the run, and therefore the house.  Does this make a difference?

[GrannieAnnie]

I can't see a chicken pushing her head through a flap to be honest.  And if she did, then decided she wanted to go out, she could get her neck caught and die

I wouldn't do it for mine.  and they haven't got auto popholes either!  They wait until I let them out.

[Ourveggiepatch]

Hi

With our hens (had them years ago now so long gone) we had a sliding door which went up and down, it had a bit of rope in a hole at the top and we just lifted the door hooked the rope over a hook and then let it down again in the evenings.

Our hen house hen door was inside a  fox proof run also. 

If you do this method rather than the cat flap method just watch the rope doesnt wear thin and then drop - one of our hens was killed out right this way with it dropping on its neck.  However saying that it did last for years and once we replaced the rope it lasted for years after.

OVP

[RichardH]

Funnily enough, this morning I spotted a colleague's last Facebook comment was "XXXXX is impressed that the chickens snuck through the catflap and into the kitchen undetected" - so they can get through them!

However, I (although a beginner) agree with the above comments - what if they were half way through then decided to try and reverse? Also, I can't see any need for the flap to be thre during the day - nothing wrong with the door being open in the day and closed at night.

OVP - thanks for the tip about checking the rope - we use a similar mechanism on our pop hole door, so I'll keep an eye on it!