has anyone's chicken ever used a doggie door?

[xanaxnation]

i want to put a doggie door in the sliding glass door at the back of the house for the dogs & cats, but obviously i dont want the chickens going through it and pooping in the house. does anyone have chickens and a doggie door? do they use it? ignore it? if i leave the back door open, they come right in and look around, i even tried a baby gate on the bottom half of the door.. they just jumped over it.

 

[Cetawin]

I have one chicken, a SLW named Speckles that will come in through any door. I do not think that it is normal chicken behavior...this is the same chicken that likes to go for rides in my van and gets dog biscuits from the girls at my fav coffee shop...she is just not right in the head...so don't trust her as a a true chicken...she is something else...not sure what, but she is not a normal chicken.

 

[1girlscouts]

This is too funny! We had a speckled hen a few years ago(her name was speckles too!) that did the same behavior...getting in the car when you pulled up in the driveway, chasing the car down the driveway (like a dog does). One day I had get out of the car, grab her and take her way back behind the house and run like mad back to the car so we could leave. She would peck at the back door several times a day just to come in and snoop around the entire house. One day my husband had the hood of his truck up checking the engine and Speckles kept jumping up and into the engine part that he was trying to work on she wouldn't leave him alone.

She seemed to think she was more of a person than a chicken.

 

[FingerLakesChick]

We have a doggie/kitty door and 2 of my hens, Dolly & June come right in the house whenever they feel like it! I have to put another barricade in front of the doggie door to keep them out. Several times my DH & I have been sitting in the living room watching TV and all of a sudden in walks one of them and jumps on to one of our laps. Silly girls!! Gotta love it!

Who needs TV? They're way more entertaining!!

 

[boxermom]

Would doggie doors work in the coop instead of pop up doors?

 

[Davaroo]

Chickens learn fast. Simple barriers like swinging doors are easily overcome if they think food is on the other side.

IF you want one of these doors on the coop, neat idea. Know that they wont keep predators out, however, should that be a problem where you live.

Now, if you want such a door to facilitate chickens getting in the house, then you may need to be reminded that they have awful toilet habits, among other things....

'Might want to rethink that whole scenario.

 

[xanaxnation]

lol i want to keep them OUT of the house, but i want the dogs & cats to be able to come & go. right now i have my garage door cracked and the cats come & go through there, but the puppy figured out how to get in to the garage & ran down the street. ugh! oh well... i guess its manual labor to let the dogs in & out lol

 

[rachiegirl]

They have doggie doors now with collars that act like keys. The door wont open unless whatever is trying to get in has the collar on. That might work for you.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Well, chickens wont have any perceived need to come in the house, unless they think there is food in there. So be rigorous about feeding them out in their own yard area... which you should do anyway.

That way, even if they come around, it's unlikely they will associate the doggy door with any reason for going near it.

'Just thinking out loud here....

 

[modenacart]

Our hens have never come through our doggy door. When it was cold out I tried to show them how to use it, but they never did.