On 17 Mar, 17:46, "cynic" wrote:
On 17 Mar, 11:18, "R.P.McMurphy"
wrote:

HI all,

i have recently started to keep chickens, i have a coop with a hinged door
opening outwards with a slide bolt to lock it shut. there are units out
there to open and close sliding doors, but they aren't cheap and id prefer
to diy! any suggestions? i was thinking of using a car battery with a
automatic car aerial and a light sensitive switch, maybe a -

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...17m3&c=so&U=st...

Anyone got any other suggestions/ideas?

cheers!

Steve

Having kept chickens when the kids were young I can tell you they
don't all go inside at dusk. You will need to manually make sure they
have gone to roost and shut the door.

Can't you just buy a whole bunch of them for 50p each and let the
foxes get the ones who don't go in at night-time. Natural selection at
work :-)

Jon.