The new chicken shed continued

Yesterday we re read the instructions (for the hundredth time!) that came with the automatic door opener. We checked the wires and they were wired correctly. We followed the instructions again. We have done this many, many times over the last few days.

First we needed to calibrate the door. The door was going down too far exposing a gap at the top and I had to stop it with my hand. It was then going up to high and jamming. I tried again this time stopping it from going up too far with my hand.

This hadn’t been happening before so I thought that something was adrift. After the door is calibrated the instructions say that you need to scroll through the menu until you find sensor then select sensor.

I scrolled the menu and sensor no longer appeared. I think that what has happened is that the sensor is no longer working and therefore can’t be selected. If the opener is working it is supposed to slowly blink a red light to let you know it is working. This is no longer happening.

We decided that we would have to give up on it and buy a new one. This is frustrating as they are expensive however an automatic door opener that doesn’t open or close is completely useless.

I have ordered another one which is due to arrive the next day. I will leave the pop hole open overnight until the new door opener is installed. In the unlikely event that anyone new reads this my run is roofed and completely predator proof so I am able to do this.

Last night I kept popping out to see how the girls were getting on. The little girls have quickly got the hang of it and go in easily and go to the their perch straight away. I had to put Marmite in as she is still broody and even if I close the nest boxes she sits on the patio in front of the nest box.

The reason I put Marmite in the corner was because it was darker there and I thought it would stop her going back out again. When I don’t need to put her in the girls may spread out a bit more as there is plenty of space on the left end of the perch.

I kept the nest boxes closed for two days but Marmite would just sit in front of them so I decided to give up as the other girls need to get in to lay.

All the little girls are on their perch

What surprises me is that the little girls have had no problem finding the new pop hole and the new perch and yet the three bigger girls are clueless! They were walking around the patio area and looking in the old pop hole.

Eventually I pushed them all through the new pop hole. Once inside Ebony jumped straight up to their perch but Speckles and Flame just stood there looking confused. These girls can be awfully dim at times. Eventually I lifted them to the perch.

I helped the bigger girls in

All the girls are in

I hope that over the next few nights the three bigger girls will get the hang of it.