Automatic Chicken Coop Door with Sunrise/Sunset Mode

We have had this for a month and a half and it has work perfectly so far. Setting up the sunrise and sunset timer wasn't very hard or time consuming. I haven't had a chicken locked outside yet, I set it to close 30minutes after sunset and all my chickens are safely inside the coop by then.Installing it was easy. It took my husband and myself 10-15mins to install.I am glad I got the sunset/sunrise timer so I don't have to worry about changing the time or that the door is left open well after dark. We live where there are plenty of predators and this door has kept everything out so far.It works great if we are gone I don't worry about my chickens being locked in the coop all day or in danger with an open door.I was a little worried about the door size. I raised some Cornish cross and fell in love with one of the sweet roosters and couldn't send him to the freezer with the rest. He is around 5 months old and I was worried he wouldn't fit. He has to duck and has maybe a 1/2 inch on either side when he uses the door but he can make it. He is around 15lbs now (maybe more he is one big boy!) and very wide. If he can make it the door can easily accommodate pretty much any chicken breed.UPDATE: It's been over 5 months now and it's still working great. There has been some pretty cold nights in Michigan and I got worried when I noticed frost on the automatic opener but it has continued to work so far. I have had to change the batteries twice so far. When the display is slow or the door takes a while to move up or down I change the batteries. It keeps all the settings when changing the batteries.I still have my large rooster who is very very wide and over 20lbs. His wings brush the sides of the door and he has to squat to get in and out but he doesn't appear to mind.

I bought this door because I live in an area with foxes and raccoons. I got tired of worrying about my flock when my wife and I went out for the evening and we didn't have anyone to close them in for us.When the Automatic Coop Door arrived I configured it in my living room and tested it several times before installing it in my coop. The controls were pretty straightforward and setup took less than 15 minutes. It seemed to work fine, but I noted that there were no "pre-drilled" holes in the sill as mentioned in the instructions so I drilled my own and installed it in my coop. It worked fine the first night, but on subsequent nights the door would stick in the half-closed position and had to be manually closed. I contacted the manufacturer and explained the problem. Elam Miller told me that the door binding was likely caused by a defect in the frame and sent me a replacement door and a return label for the defective one. The new door operated more smoothly and since it was installed it has been working flawlessly. The responsive customer service and the properly working replacement door allow me to give this product 5 stars and I highly recommend it to anyone considering an automatic coop door.

I want to love this door. It works really well when it works, but we had a cold snap here in the Southern US and my door stopped working consistently, again. The door we have now is a replacement for the original which stopped working after a rainstorm. The original was purchased in August 2017 and replaced within a month or two (we thought it must have been defective to have not been able to handle some rain), so this one has only been in operation for a few months. When it died last week we thought it was the batteries and replaced them and all seemed well, but I guess it stopped working again last night and we lost a chicken to a couple of raccoons who entered the coop through the open door. Batteries were replaced less than a week ago. If you're like me and you bought an automatic coop door so that you didn't have to go manually close the door every night, don't get this one. It just isn't a reliable product. I'm writing this at 4AM after spending an hour out in the cold trying to get the door to close manually to protect our remaining chickens (I had to replace the batteries AGAIN to get it to work, which doesn't make sense because they are fresh).

The Sun Mode is available on the nicer model, so make sure to pay the extra and get that one. You can "upgrade" the Standard model for $50 and unlock the Sun Mode capability if desired, but just be aware that is the difference between the two models. Sun Mode allows the unit to open and close relative to sun rise and sun set with programmable offsets rather than simply by time of day. No daylight savings adjustment that I found...not that it really matters to the critters.It would also be nice if the unit had dedicated buttons on the front to raise and lower the door manually. We had to chase our critters through it the first few times and it would have been nice to be able to close it somewhat quickly rather than fumbling two or three menus deep to override the door control. When you run the door manually, make sure to put it back into "Run" mode, or it won't operate as scheduled. Our ducks spent a hot day in their coop until we figured this out.Unit is easy to install and worked as advertized. The controller cable is too short IMHO and the water resistance of the seals looks a bit wimpy, but time will tell.