Door opener/closer for small (12" square?) door

A hen house door?

These are made for poultry coops but I can't find the reference.

Ask on sci.agriculture.poultry

Mary

Yes, and - any suggestions?

Good point, will do.

Why not look at using a car electric window mechanism, or even better a windscreen wiper mechanism.

Cheers

Peter

Having just replaced a Honeywell CH valve motor, I think one of these might be OK. The torque is large, they rotate very slowly exactly 90 deg when the mains is applied and are spring loaded to return when its off. Gotten from any plumbing shop for a few quid or even less on the electronics surplus market.

rusty.

I found this from some old correspondence:

Mary

I got pointed to the same device on the poultry newsgroup, thanks, I'll look into it.

I have thought about this but have always worried about door failing or a hen being shut out overnight.

This time of year our hens could go into the house any time between 7pm and

Another tack is to raise the hen house, see H-F Wittingstall (sp?) Riverside Cottage books, or Bunny Guinness. These seem to work in France but it does make cleaning and collecting eggs more difficult.

Colin

No system is 100% foolproof. You might die before they go in and then what would happen :-)

Ours aren't going in until well after nine at the moment, we're in Yorkshire.

It's only suitable for small coops. I can't see why they should make anything else difficult.

Another method (this should be on s.a.p.) is to have the coop well off the floor with a pole sticking out at right angles to the opening. Hens can jump or fly onto the pole to get access to the coop, the fox can jump but can't get into the coop from the pole because it can't hold on to it. I've tried a version of this, it works but now that I have the Eglu it wouldn't be easy.

Mary