How to build a Chicken Coop, SIMPLE Chicken powered automatic door, NO ELECTRIC, safe, Save ENERGY
DO NOT install an electric COOP DOOR!!!
Complete walkthrough followed by a detailed "How to build a Chicken Coop" with a CHICKEN POWERed and operated door.
Materials:
3 Wood crates, 4@4x8x1/2" plywood, 2 plastic roofing panels, 2@4x8 R7.5 Foam Insulation, 1-1/2"& 3-1/2"gold screws, 3/4" deep staples, 1 old garage door panel...which I found near a garage company dumpster. Exterior caulk/ silicone, hinges, door nobs, chicken wire, polly panel, polly adhesive, paint.
You don't need an electric powered door with photovoltaic sensor to open and close your chicken coop door. Chickens are programed to wake with the sun, and they run to bed once it becomes DUSK. I used a couple pulleys, a counter weight, some string and a conduit pipe pivoting on a conduit strap creating a teeter-totter mechanism that opens and closes the door with the weight of the chicken on one side and a counter weight on the other attached with a thin rope.
The chickens come in for the night and go to the stoop, once enough chickens are on the stoop the combined weight on the teeter-totter allows the door to fall and close. When they wake in the morning they hop down to get water and food, lay their eggs, and the door is open.