Solving Omlet Smart Auto Door Timing Issues with Alexa Routines

[mbraeke1]

Hi,

I have an Eglu Cube with the autodoor, which is taking care that the chicken are safe in their home at night. Even when I am not at home, I'm sure that the door closes at the right time.

However, before the Eglu Cube, I had an Eglu Go for 8 years. My mean reason for upgrading the Go to a Cube was the fact that at night, the chicken would sleep on the nesting area, making it dirty. The eggs we retrieved were dirty as well... every day. In the morning, there was no time to clean the nesting area.

The Cube solved that issue. I have now white chicken (before I had brown ones), so I have white eggs and they are without a spot of dirt when I retrieve them.

However, if I do not close the internal sliding door at night and open it again in the morning, the chicken will go in the nesting booth and sleep in it (making it again dirty as was the case with the Eglu Go).

I'm not always in time at home at night to close that sliding door, so I was wondering if anyone already attempted to automate the opening and closure of that sliding door towards the nesting booth. Grateful if anyone has some info or tips on how they did it or how they would do it.

Thanks,
Mario

[mbraeke1]

OK, so no one has thought about automating this sliding door yet... strange.
I'm planning to do a small project using Arduino to automate the door. If there are people interested or having loads of Arduino knowledge, reach out to me...

Cheers,
Mario

[Mrs A]

Hiya - I have a new Eglu without the automated door as I don't shut them in at night, I've had hens for years in different runs and never have shut them in their actual house, the run keeps the foxes out and they seem fine with the door open, they can get up very early in the morning and I can have a lie in - however I do have to shut the nest box door at night...seemingly more so with this Eglu - whether they prefer the box to the slats I am not sure but I am hoping if I shut the door for a few weeks they might get out of the habit so I can be lazy and leave it open as I have with most other set ups.

Anyway  - this caused me to think, what is the point of an automated external door if you can't automate the nest box door as they will all crowd in there!  Omlet need to design one.  Not sure I will buy it tho...far too pricey for me...will have to rely on good old human hands and the nest box will just have to be open  24/7 if I am away.

So I am very much with you on this one - but have absolutely no idea how you can achieve the automation - don't even know what Arduino is.  Good luck!

 

[Patricia W]

I think many of us on here have the MK 1 cube without automation.  Like Mrs A, I don’t close the cube at night.  In my case, because my bantams sleep on perches in the run.  The cube is just an expensive nest box.  I’ve also taken out the divider in the cube ( which I guess you can’t do).  I did this years ago after a bout of red mite as I found the groove where the divider sat was a favourite hiding place for them.   When I had hens who slept inside, I found that it stops them laying in the nesting place though, if you put an upturned flower pot or ball in.  I only had to do it for a short time to change the behaviour. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Patricia W

[mbraeke1]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:15 AM, Mrs A said:

Hiya - I have a new Eglu without the automated door as I don't shut them in at night, I've had hens for years in different runs and never have shut them in their actual house, the run keeps the foxes out and they seem fine with the door open, they can get up very early in the morning and I can have a lie in - however I do have to shut the nest box door at night...seemingly more so with this Eglu - whether they prefer the box to the slats I am not sure but I am hoping if I shut the door for a few weeks they might get out of the habit so I can be lazy and leave it open as I have with most other set ups.

Anyway  - this caused me to think, what is the point of an automated external door if you can't automate the nest box door as they will all crowd in there!  Omlet need to design one.  Not sure I will buy it tho...far too pricey for me...will have to rely on good old human hands and the nest box will just have to be open  24/7 if I am away.

So I am very much with you on this one - but have absolutely no idea how you can achieve the automation - don't even know what Arduino is.  Good luck!

 

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I have an open run (not the one from Omlet as I have quite some space where they are allowed to walk free). I don't believe we have foxes nearby (never say never) but we do have ferrets and ermines (hope I translated that one correct). So the automated door is serving a purpose. The door opens around 5:30am and closes at 9pm (by that time they are already in for 2 or so hours.

If I leave the nest box door open, I end up cleaning the full area at the end of the week. I have tried changing their habbits but forgetting to close the door once is enough for them to fall back to their old habbits... I used to have an Eglu Go before the Cube and I actually sold it because it does not have a separate nesting area and thus they were messing the nesting area up every night.

This being said: I think I found a way to automate the sliding door. It may sound strange but the design is based on an old PC DVD player and a PC mouse. The DVD player has an automated tray and a small engine and the microswitches in the computer mouse will help to stop the door when it is fully open/closed, to prevent the engine from continuing. The arduino will will help to program the opening/closing. 

Will see how this goes...

On 6/13/2019 at 7:30 AM, Patricia W said:

I think many of us on here have the MK 1 cube without automation.  Like Mrs A, I don’t close the cube at night.  In my case, because my bantams sleep on perches in the run.  The cube is just an expensive nest box.  I’ve also taken out the divider in the cube ( which I guess you can’t do).  I did this years ago after a bout of red mite as I found the groove where the divider sat was a favorite hiding place for them.   When I had hens who slept inside, I found that it stops them laying in the nesting place though, if you put an upturned flower pot or ball in.  I only had to do it for a short time to change the behavior. 

Hi Patricia,

The MK2 has a removable divider. It's held in place by 2 aluminum U-profiles. Once a month I take it out to clean it. After you mentioned the red mites, I went to check last WE to make sure they also did not use this spot in my MK2 to hide, but I have to say so far I have zero mites anywhere in the run.

As for behavior: as I said in my reply above - it takes only one night not closing the nesting area for my chicken to fall back to their previous habit of sleeping in the nesting area...

Thanks,
Mario

[Patricia W]

Red mite comes from the wild bird population.  Just keep an eye out for it.  It can ( literally) creep up on you.   As for sleeping in the nest box, it’s a case of persevering.  Or accepting you need to wash the eggs before use.  If you choose to wash them, don’t do it till you do use them.  They are covered in a ‘bloom’ which prevents internal contamination.  If you wash this off, they don’t keep as long. 

[mbraeke1]

3 hours ago, Patricia W said:

Red mite comes from the wild bird population.  Just keep an eye out for it.  It can ( literally) creep up on you.   As for sleeping in the nest box, it’s a case of persevering.  Or accepting you need to wash the eggs before use.  If you choose to wash them, don’t do it till you do use them.  They are covered in a ‘bloom’ which prevents internal contamination.  If you wash this off, they don’t keep as long. 

I have had red mite with one of my first wooden chicken houses. I have to say that since I switched to the plastic ones from Omlet, it has been quite OK.

In regards to the eggs, I indeed heard that washing them should not be done - thanks for explaining why. So far, by closing the nest box door each evening, we have crisp white eggs, no cleaning required whatsoever.

[Chicken_Daddy]

On 6/12/2019 at 3:15 PM, Mrs A said:

Hiya - I have a new Eglu without the automated door as I don't shut them in at night, I've had hens for years in different runs and never have shut them in their actual house, the run keeps the foxes out and they seem fine with the door open, they can get up very early in the morning and I can have a lie in - however I do have to shut the nest box door at night...seemingly more so with this Eglu - whether they prefer the box to the slats I am not sure but I am hoping if I shut the door for a few weeks they might get out of the habit so I can be lazy and leave it open as I have with most other set ups.

Anyway  - this caused me to think, what is the point of an automated external door if you can't automate the nest box door as they will all crowd in there!  Omlet need to design one.  Not sure I will buy it tho...far too pricey for me...will have to rely on good old human hands and the nest box will just have to be open  24/7 if I am away.

So I am very much with you on this one - but have absolutely no idea how you can achieve the automation - don't even know what Arduino is.  Good luck!

 

We have a Go with the same sleeping / pooping problem with our nest box.  Like you, we do not close the door at night because the run keeps the hens safe.  My theory is that the hens do not like to sleep in the doorway area because it is open to the outside run area and they do not feel safe.  I think this because I created a roost inside the coop and the poop is always to the side, away from the doorway.  So I am thinking of creating wall that sits just outside the door (inside the run area) that sits about a foot away from the door.  The chickens would have to walk around the wall to get to the door and into the coop.  I am hoping the wall will give them a false sense of security to sleep in doorway area of the coop.  I would love to have an automated door, but that is just too high tech for me and I don't know if the Go is big enough to accommodate that.

[Cat tails]

I would just stick a tub or in my case the plastic cover of a small propagator in the nest box. And just remove it in the morning.

[Patricia W]

I removed the bedroom door after a redmite infection ( they hide underneath).  Once it’s one area, the nest box end becomes less attractive! 

[The Dogmother]

It doesn't take 2 minutes to go out in the evening and pop tub trugs in the pop hole between the roosting area and the nest box. I don't really understand why automation is needed on every door, or even any of them; this is just part of chicken keeping routine.

[mbraeke1]

1 hour ago, The Dogmother said:

It doesn't take 2 minutes to go out in the evening and pop tub trugs in the pop hole between the roosting area and the nest box. I don't really understand why automation is needed on every door, or even any of them; this is just part of chicken keeping routine.

I see what you mean, but it's not a matter of the time needed or the effort to do it. It's more a problem of not being able to have a steady routine. Some of the evenings I'm just not in time at home to do this due to my agenda. Automation would help to solve that...

[Cat tails]

I just shove them out, when I get home. I’m with Dogmother on this one. This is something that doesn’t need digitalising.

[The Dogmother]

12 hours ago, mbraeke1 said:

I see what you mean, but it's not a matter of the time needed or the effort to do it. It's more a problem of not being able to have a steady routine. Some of the evenings I'm just not in time at home to do this due to my agenda. Automation would help to solve that...

If they are already in the coop, then (provided that your run is secure) closing the door can wait until you get back. There have been too many accounts of chickens getting left out in the run when the door closes for me to be happy about those products. Sorry, but that's just my opinion.

[Lea]

So does this mean that I open the door to the laying area early in the morning, and then they move in and lay their eggs? What time do you check for eggs? 

[jason0u]

Have you ever considered just putting a second omlet auto door on the nesting divider.  It is obviously not designed to be installed on the divider, however, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to mount on there.   A few well placed drilled holes, and a few bolts, and you'd be in business.  Omlet probably hasn't made a nesting box auto door option because the normal one would work just fine on the nesting box divider.  

[Monique J Brim]

I just purchased the cube and am a little confused by the nesting door. I do close it at night to keep the nesting area clean. When I go out in the morning, I open the nest area and the door leading them to the run. They are 5 month old hens, so they haven’t started to lay just yet. Will they go back inside when they want to lay? Should I open the nest box only and leave the exterior door closed for a few hours? Right now I’m just opening both doors at the same time and hoping they know what to do. Ha! 

[mbraeke1]

On 11/13/2021 at 5:02 AM, jason0u said:

Have you ever considered just putting a second omlet auto door on the nesting divider.  It is obviously not designed to be installed on the divider, however, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to mount on there.   A few well placed drilled holes, and a few bolts, and you'd be in business.  Omlet probably hasn't made a nesting box auto door option because the normal one would work just fine on the nesting box divider.  

Yes, but it's quite an expensive solution at 180€. But I agree, it would take minimal effort to do so...

[mullethunter]

On 4/17/2022 at 5:08 AM, Monique J Brim said:

I just purchased the cube and am a little confused by the nesting door. I do close it at night to keep the nesting area clean. When I go out in the morning, I open the nest area and the door leading them to the run. They are 5 month old hens, so they haven’t started to lay just yet. Will they go back inside when they want to lay? Should I open the nest box only and leave the exterior door closed for a few hours? Right now I’m just opening both doors at the same time and hoping they know what to do. Ha! 

Keep doing what you’re doing, they’ll know what to do ☺️

[Tillsy]

Our former chickens used to sleep in the nesting box of our old coop - made quite the mess of both the nesting boxes and the eggs.  With our new chickens in our new Eglu Cube I had the partition door closed for their first few months hoping they would learn that's not for sleeping, but once they were ready to lay and I opened it one of them already began sleeping in there and the others started to intermittently mess about in there during the night.

Opening and closing the partition door each morning and night solved that problem but created an all new ones - our girls laying early in the morning often meant I was opening the door too late and they had already laid on the roosting bars, if I was home late/out then they'd already starting nestling into the nestbox and soiling it up, etc.

I too debated using a second Auto Door on to the partition wall - I reached out to Omlet and they found the concept intriguing, but the reason it does not "quite" fit is they hadn't considered it.

To that end I modified it myself - solved all our dramas, beautifully clean eggs and nestbox ever since 😀

I've documented the process for this in this article 👍