This is NOT a sponsored post. I bought this product on my own and this is my own independent review. You can watch me assemble the Omelet chicken coop door.
Installing an automatic chicken door is one of the best homestead upgrades I have made in my time on the homestead, and I would suggest that if you have chickens to make the investment today—seriously, it is worth the cost.
What is it like caring for chickens?
Every single morning with chickens, I would have to wake up and go open up the door for my chickens to access the run. In the summers when the sun is up early, that means my chickens are up early too. Sometimes I wouldn’t wake up until 7, but the sun was up at 5. My chickens had to patiently wait for me to come open the door for them—what a hassle! A hassle for me because I would have to go out there and let them out and a hassle for them because they had to wait on me to wake up and open the door for them.
How do you keep chickens safe at night?
Not only were my early mornings tied up with letting the chickens out, but every night I would have to trudge out to the coop to close the door. To be honest, there were a few nights that closing the coop would escape my mind and I would wake up in a panic in the middle of the night just to run out and close the door. Predators creep around at night, and I ran the risk of losing my whole flock if I forgot to close the door to their run. This is no longer a problem with an automatic chicken coop door.
I had been thinking of automatic chicken coop doors for a while, but I never got around to following through with my daydream because I didn’t want to deal with the setup. In my mind, the setup would be a pain, something wouldn’t work, and I would have to just return the door in the end. I was so wrong—the installation was easy and it saves me so much time every day.
What is the best automatic chicken coop door?
I had been researching automatic chicken coop doors because I wanted the perfect one. I found a few that seemed like affordable, decent options but would be littered with a few bad reviews so I chose to not pursue the idea further. I seriously did not want to get a door that looked nice on amazon only for it to arrive and be a third world country piece of junk made for 50 cents in a back alley sweat shop. I wanted a quality product that would be easy to install, meet mine and my chicken’s needs, and last through the volatile weather on the homestead.
I found the perfect automatic chicken door, the Omelet chicken door
If you look up “automatic chicken door” on Amazon, you are going to find a million listings. Do you know why? Because 99% of these doors are straight from Alibaba. Alibaba is the china Amazon where you can bulk order cheesy products to resell on Amazon. I was not about to have an Alibaba chicken door. The last thing I want is to come out to a chicken sliced in half after the Alibaba chicken door closed on a chicken and the safety sensors failed because there was no safety check in the sweat shop that day.
Nah, I wanted QUALITY, so I found a chicken coop door that is not on Alibaba and that is the Omlet automatic chicken coop door. Seriously, all of those chicken coop doors you see on amazon are straight from Alibaba and the prices are hiked to make a fat profit.
What settings does the Omlet chicken coop door have?
The perks of the Omlet chicken coop door is that it has a variety of control options for the door. You can operate it manually if you please. It is suggested to operate it manually if you have baby chickens in the flock. This would require you going out and pressing a button on the control panel whenever you wanted it open or closed. Yes, this wouldn’t eliminate the problem of having to go out there, but it still would save me hassle. I would have to dig in my chickens bedding to get their door to fit and close. Now, I just have to press a button—still a hassle saver. The Omlet chicken coop door also has a light sensor setting—this is what I operate on. The control panel will open and close the door based on how much light it detects. You can change the light sensitivity. I keep mine on the factory setting of 6%, and I have yet to encounter a problem. There is also a timer where you can set the open and close based on TIME, which is pretty neat. So far, I have been happy with the light setting.
I loved that the installation was easy. The most difficult part about it was installing on a cold day. My hands froze and that slowed down my mobility for using tools. I would suggest to install an automatic chicken coop door on a warm day, but you can do it on a cold day if you wish!
Why do you need a chicken coop light?
Not only did I get the automatic chicken coop door from Omlet, I also got a coop light from them that plugs into the control panel. The purpose for this coop light is to encourage all of the chickens to return to the coop before the door closes. The light turns on 5 minutes before the door closes at night. The light is also useful if I need some light to look around in the chicken coop. I mounted the light inside of the coop and ran the cord through the wall to the outside control panel. Mainly, I use it for the chickens’ safety of returning to the coop.
Solar powered vs. battery powered automatic chicken door
The Omlet automatic chicken door is not solar powered—it is powered by 4 AA batteries. This isn’t ideal for an off grid situation where someone wants to be entirely self sufficient and not rely on things such as batteries. For me, I have come to learn that solar-powered things do not always operate properly in my climate where I am burdened with clouds a majority of the time. Plus, my coop is heavily shaded and having a solar powered Alibaba door of sorts would just not work for my coop. I don’t mind having to check on the power level every couple of months and changing out the batteries. This gives me an opportunity to use my emergency storage batteries.
What are the dimensions for the Omlet chicken door?
Door Frame: 19.25 in. x 16.5 in x 2. 25 in. Control Panel: 4.75 in. x 4.5 in. x 1.5 in. Cable Length: 78.74 in.
I used these measurements to see how the door would fit before I even ordered it. I realized I would need to use a multitool to slice off some of my chicken coop paneling—that was not a big deal. I also realized that it would be beneficial to build a frame for the coop door so it could sit even and flat. I used a 1x4 to build the frame for the door. I leveled as I went to ensure that the frame was square and level.
Is an automatic chicken coop door dangerous?
It could be. By manually opening and closing a door for your chickens every day, you are taking out the danger of an automatic door closing on a chicken and killing them. With an Alibaba chicken door ordered from the pits of amazon, I would assume the danger level would be high. How exactly do they do safety checks on a back alley mass produced from the dumps kind of product? I wouldn’t trust that product as far as I could throw it—and it wouldn’t be very far. I’m betting with a crappy product, you would be filling your freezer full of chicken faster than using a quality product like the Omlet chicken door.
The Omlet chicken door comes with a safety sensor that will automatically stop if it feels an obstruction. You do have to install the door correctly for this feature to work—nothing can block the sensor.
Overall, adding an automatic chicken door to my homestead has been a huge upgrade. I love the automation and having one less thing to care about in the mornings. I no longer wake up in the middle of the night having to run out to the coop because I forgot to close the door. I would suggest anyone with chickens to invest in an Omlet chicken door!
