Is A Pop Door Necessary?

Discussion in 'Managing Your Flock' started by txplowgirl, Jul 13, 2019.

  1. txplowgirl

    txplowgirl Songster

    Jan 7, 2014
    Southern Oklahoma
    I only have 4 2 month old chicks at the moment and they are already bigger than I thought they would be at this age and I am loving them. I am planning on posting pics of their house and run and pics of themselves in a few days.

    Their coop is 8ft x 8ft and 6ft high sloping down to the back to 4ft. Their run is 8ft wide and 10 ft deep and i'm doing the Deep Litter method in the coop. Haven't gotten the egg boxes in yet or their permanent roost put in and right now they are using saw horses for their roosting bar.

    Anyway, I have a plywood door for the coop and a plywood door for the run also. That way I can get me and a wheelbarrow inside with no problems when it comes time to clean out the coop.

    Anyway, I got to wondering about the pop door. I go out every morning and open their coop door and leave it open during the day so they can run in and out all day long if they want. In the evening I close their door when they go in for the night. Now, maybe during the winter I may need 1 but I don't really see the need for a pop door. From the experienced chicken lovers out there what are your reasons for a pop door?
    Aunt Angus likes this.
  2. IamRainey

    IamRainey Songster

    How secure is the run? If you feel confident about it, then the pop door isn't really necessary at all.

    I don't use one. My girls come and go as they see fit.
  3. Mrs. K

    Mrs. K Crowing

    Nov 12, 2009
    western South Dakota
    I do use one, we live in windy country, and sometimes if I had the big peoples door open, it would be too much, but the pop up will still let birds go in and out.
    aart likes this.
  4. aart

    aart Chicken Juggler!

    Nov 27, 2012
    SW Michigan
    My Coop
    In wind in winter for sure, I have a wind block on front of the west facing pop door.
    I also leave the people door closed except during mild weather to keep bugs and again that late west sun out of coop.
  5. GC-Raptor

    GC-Raptor Crowing

    Jul 26, 2016
    Connecticut, U.S.A.
    I keep feed and water in my raised coops. My pens are not secure from songbirds. They will consume chicken feed.
    In 3 years I've only found two in my old coop and have not found any in my new coop in 10 months. The pop door on my new coop is less than 2 feet from the fence with a windbreak. 20181019_092454.jpg . It gets cold here with strong winds occasionally.
    Chickens can go inside away from the wind through the pop door.
    I close the pop doors at night. GC
  6. IamRainey

    IamRainey Songster

    I always forget to factor in weather. Guess it comes from 50 years in a spot that only rarely gets any....
    GC-Raptor likes this.
  7. Biddybot

    Biddybot Chirping

    Aug 4, 2018
    HRM, Nova Scotia, Canada
    Depends on your prevailing climate and how well insulated your coop is. My gang is in a well-enough insulated building that, even though unheated, the water inside during the winter doesn't begin to freeze until the outside temp gets to about -13C/9F. In the summer, it starts to get cooler inside than outside as soon as the temps go above 25C/77F. That's with three small popholes and a double sliding window opened as needed for ventilation. I'd lose those benefits if I left the big door to access the building wide open.

    On the other hand, I think chickens like to have a big door open over having to use popholes. They can peek inside or out if it's a door and keep better track of their buddies. A lot of my chickens, if they're outside foraging and it starts to rain, they'd rather go and stand just inside the always-open 4'X7' door of the baby barn and groom and schmooze while they watch the weather than go up to the chicken house and go inside there. Guinea fowl definitely prefer big doors to popholes, and if the door's big enough that they can enter on the wing, so much the better.
  8. Aunt Angus

    Aunt Angus Crowing

    Jul 16, 2018
    Sacramento County, CA
    My Coop
    This is exactly what I do. The coop door in my weird set up opens into the covered run, so the inside of the coop is always sheltered. My weather is very forgiving, though, being in Northern CA. I do have to tie it open. It blew it shut and locked the birds out once. Oops. They were not happy because they had to lay their eggs in the run. You can see my door open in the pic below.

    You are getting great advice from the others, but it works just fine for me not having a pop door.
    so lucky and Shadrach like this.
  9. IamRainey

    IamRainey Songster

    What a fun looking run! A chicken amusement park!
    so lucky likes this.
  10. Shadrach

    Shadrach Roosterist

    Jul 31, 2018
    Catalonia, Spain
    My Coop
    It really depends on how secure your run and coop are. It is often the case that the coop is a lot more secure than the run.
    Another factor is if the chickens decide to have a night out and roost in the run if that's possible they are on display to any passing predators. Smelling chicken and hearing chicken is one thing, seeing chicken may just make a predator make that extra effort to get in.
    A properly secure run is pretty difficult to make. I have seen very few I would be happy to leave a chicken in all night.
    Aunt Angus likes this.

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