Run Chicken Door Model T50 (Red)

I waited 6 months to write a review of this Run-Chicken door. I can honestly say that this door has been an absolute life changer! We spend our summer weekends away from home and I no longer have to bother family members or neighbors to lock up our chickens at night.In Ohio we get our fair share of rain and snow. For that reason, I installed the door on the INSIDE of the coop to keep it out of the elements and {hopefully} prolong the life of the door. My coop has windows which I keep open in good weather, so even with the door mounted on the inside, it still senses the sunrise and sunset and goes up and down accordingly. (The door is factory programmed to go up at sunrise and down at sunset). This works PERFECT for mid-April through September where we live. However, once the weather turns cooler, and the coop windows are closed for the winter, the sensor understandably gets confused and will open/shut at odd times. But have no fear - there is a workaround for this!Knowing this sensor can also be programmed to go up and down at specific times, I read thru the instructions included with the door. The timer on this door is not like a “normal” timer - meaning you can’t numerically set the hour or minute that you want the coop to close (ie 8:00 pm). I tried following the instructions but they weren’t helpful to me. So I’m here to provide a few programming tips…Remember these tips are for those who need to program times other than the “dawn to dusk” factory settings.I will start by saying that it might take a few days to MANUALLY adjust the time and get it set to the right times. With that being said, IMO you should plan to be home, close to the coop for a few days until you get the programming kinks worked out. Don’t just assume you can install the door and leave for vacation the next day and everything will be fine. Eventually it will be, but probably not the first time you program it.So, here’s what you do….at the time you want the door to OPEN you must be near the coop. Press and hold the button on the bottom of the timer and wait for it to turn solid GREEN. When it turns green, let go and hit the button one more time. It makes a musical sound if programmed correctly (not just a beep). For the manual CLOSE once again - you must be near the coop. Press and hold the button until the RED light appears. When it turns solid RED, let go and hit the button one more time. It should make another musical sound if programmed correctly. **Remove the batteries from the timer if you wish to reset the programming. I did this numerous times until I was confident in my programming ability 😂Another piece of advice…the best thing I did to figure out the programming was to put batteries in the black timer box, set it on my desk and play with the up/down button until I figured out exactly how to program. That way, you don’t have to keep unscrewing/removing the timer box from the door once it’s mounted in order to do a manual reset. You could actually do this for a few days before installing the door so that you know exactly how the timer works and how to program.For the reviews on here that mention poor battery life…this unit takes TWO (2) AA batteries which run about .65 cents a piece. If you cannot afford spending $1.30 for batteries every 6 months for something that protects your flock, then you probably shouldn’t be buying this Run-Chicken door. I have had the same batteries installed for 6 months. Just tested them last week and they are still fully charged…so I’m guessing I will get another 2-3 months in cold weather - that means I will get 9 months use out of mine. Honestly I wouldn’t mind paying $1.30 every month…that’s how much I love this door.What color of door is best? It’s really a personal preference. I bought the red door. Because of the bright, bold color, it is super easy to look out my back window and see that it is up or down. I wouldn’t be able to see it as easily if it was a neutral color (especially with it being mounted on the inside of the coop)…just my own personal preference.Hope this info was helpful & I hope you enjoy your automatic door as much as I do!

We purchased our unit 3 years ago, & it still performs well - opening at dawn, closing at dusk. We have had an issue with the door not fully opening this past winter, but attributed it to possibly moisture freezing in the track, as there is no little roof over the door. It’s working fine now, so we are pleased with it. Considering ordering a second one for the “chick” house where the youngsters are kept, but they’re kind of pricey 😳So maybe not

I would buy this again. The app works good and it opens and closes like it should. I think this would work better if I could have had this in the direct line of the sun the whole time, but it is fine. I live in NC and when it got cold this past winter I changed the batteries sooner than recommended on the app. This could have been the batteries I was using, but they seemed to struggle a little when it was down below freezing.

Easy to install and works great! Perfect size . Should have purchased years ago saves the nightly ritual of " locking up the chickens".

Door doesn't have a little button (or even a hole for one) and won't allow me to do any program or even open and close it. Pretty much a paper weight. It has battery power and such but can't cycle it to program due to NO BUTTON. Not impressed one bit.Edit. Contacted them and they updated the door with no button. Had to play around with the app but it finally connected and updated firmware. It's currently working good.

The First (original) door I had, the automatic light control would work sporadically and open at the little faint of light hitting it from car headlights. So I switched it to a timer and never worked correctly. The programming never seem to stick with the door. A replacement was sent to me and I sent the original back. The replacement door I received a month later, worked well because I originally programmed it just by the timer only. But this winter in New York has caused many issues with it. The door doesn’t want to close at night even with a brand new energizer alkaline battery (I’ve tried a few). If there’s any straw or a little bit of ice at the bottom, it will cause the door to come back up. With the temperature constantly below 32° here in New York this winter warm water or de-icing would not work because it would freeze rather quickly and cause more issues so there is no way to fix the ice issue. The door becomes unusable at this point. When you do close it manually it will reopen about 15 to 20 seconds later, it doesn’t no matter how you program it. Wish I could get my money back, especially being over $100.

I never thought that chicken keeping could be so easy. The construction quality is top notch, very easy installation, and i never worry about my birds safety. I have a camera in my run and I see that this door is very consistent with the opening and closing. Works exactly as I hoped! Will buy again when building more coops.

Works perfectly! The chickens figured it out the first day.