Automatic Chicken Coop Door Opener with Light Sensor and Timer + Metal Chicken Coop Door – ELITE

If the door remains functional as it has for the last two days since fitting, I shall be very pleased with this product.It arrived on time, well packaged. It had easy to follow instructions and a DVD to explain the functions and the settings, and some of the maintenance procedures. These were well presented and simple to follow. The runners and control unit were simple to fit. The existing coop door opening was slightly larger than the space taken up by the automatic door, but easily rectified with light battens screwed to the bottom and sides reducing the wooden opening.I shall be aware of the following.1. Malfunction due to battery failure.(easily remedied)2. Malfunction as a result of door jamming due to dirt in runners (unlikely as good design) or3. Door jamming due to misalignment after moving coop from existing position (easily remedied by re-aligning the coop properly).On the whole this seems well made and designed.Simple and effective.I am writing this on 8th May 2018, around 2 years since purchasing.This product has not failed in this time and the battery use is minimal, so there is no anxiety over the door not operating. There is in any case a battery icon showing the level of remaining charge.Many months pass between changes of battery.I live in a very wet corner of Wales and no rust has occurred on this product.The door has never jammed when frosty.The coop has been moved a number of times and has been placed level as is possible with a few stones to adjust roughly to level.I would recommend this very useful device.

Such a relief to know that whatever I’m up to the hens’ door opens and closes when I need it to! I haven’t managed to get the light sensor to work (I suspect in my urban environment there’s just too much ambient light) but being able to set the timer for when I want them to be let out and go to bed has been a game changer. I can even go away overnight knowing that they’ll be let out on time and don’t have to rely on neighbours. The metal door and runners are sturdy and well built and the unit itself seems very robust. A little bit difficult to fit (choose your screws carefully!) but once that’s done it’s a breeze to operate!

Because of our style of coop, I had to shape the door by cutting it to shape. But works perfectly. And the ease of the programming makes it easy to work out what works for you and your chickens.

Expensive, keeps breaking and fiddly to 'fix'. We bought the automatic chicken coop with the door because we thought it would work better with the door supplied than trying to attach to our existing chicken coop door. The string supplied (barely more than sewing cotton) snapped very quickly and needed replacing (a very fiddly and time consuming job with instructions that are next to useless). We used a fishing line that has a 45lb breaking strain and it has still broken it. You have to be so precise when replacing the line that if you don't get the knot in exactly the right place, the door will not open or will pull it so tight that it will break. We have had to 'fix' the snapped line at least half a dozen times in the short time we have owned it resulting in frustrated chickens who can't get out in the morning and on other occasions when they are shut out at night. It means we just can't rely on it to do the job it is suppsed to do. The other concern we have with the unreliability is that the door supplied is a metal sheet and acts like a guillotine when the line/string snaps. If an unsuspecting chicken had their head/body across the door threshold when this happened, it wouldn't be a very happy outcome. When it does work, it's great but sadly the negatives outweigh the benefits and for this price, I would say don't bother.

Good sturdy design. Fairly easy to set up and test.

so far so good I do need to adjust the sensor as it hasn't been shutting at dusk and is still open at 12am! (I have no hens in the coop yet) we live in the middle of the country side and there is no light to stop it from shuttingso hopefully its just the sensor sensitivity

great bit of kit easy to install but be very careful that the door hangs vertical and true as its very sensitive and will stop half way down if it meets any resistance from door runners .at the moment its set on daylight opening and shutting at dusk works great .no more panicking if i cant get home till late or i need a lay in .fitted mine onto weather proof ply to get it flush as T&G on the chicken coop to old and uneven

Was easy to set up. Good easy to follow instructions. Had to cut new pop hole. Been installed 3 days now. No more early morning or late nights. Time will tell whether it is robust enough.