When we started raising chickens the main challenge I had was letting them out in the morning and in at night.  It was hard when we were out of town to find people to help with this demanding job.  Some mornings I didn’t want to get up early to let them out…but laying in bed I could hear the devil rooster crowing and knew they were ready to get out…plus I could only think about the poor hens cooped up with him pestering them with nowhere to run!  BUT THEN when I would go and let them out in the morning …that devil rooster would be full of testosterone (or whatever the chicken version is) and would be EXTRA mean and would chase me right out of the coop.  It was terrifying.

I researched what people did about this major dilemma I was having…and I found this door and it is the best. chicken. gadget. EVER!

This is the door I got from ChickenDoors.com    —- It’s an investment, but worth every penny!

(kinda dirty…I never really see it closed!) Instead of installing it so it opens left or right, we had to install it to open straight up (so we just turned it) because we didn’t have enough room under the window.  It is solar and so I don’t ever have to worry about the battery dying.  It is great to protect the chicks from those pesky raccoons at night.  I set it to open at 7:30 am…because I don’t want to hear the rooster before that time…and since it is summer I have it set to close at 9:00 pm – but in the winter I change it to whatever dusk is.  I can leave them and know they are safe!  It really is the best invention.

We have had a couple minor situations…where a chicken didn’t go in on time  – so I always make sure it closes late enough that they are all in for the night.  The only other problem is when our bunny ate the wire to the battery, but I check on the chickens every day so I notice these problems right away and get them fixed.  We have never lost a chicken to a critter (KNOCK ON WOOD!).