Chicken Coops for Sale in Letohatchee, Alabama
Chicken Coops for Sale in Letohatchee, Alabama
Heavy Duty Solar Powered Automatic Chicken Coop Door
When we first got our chickens, each night I’d walk up to the coop & close them in. That worked great until the night I’d fall asleep putting our 3 kids to bed, or start watching a late-night movie, & suddenly OOOOHH SHIT, THE CHICKENS!!! …followed by a guilty run to the coop, wondering if I was about to find sleepy hens or a poultry massacre.
Chickens are a tasty snack for lots of predators. It’s a tough spot in the food chain. Locally we have raccoons, possums, weasels, foxes, coyotes, neighborhood dogs, hawks, eagles, owls… my friend Chris who loves fried chicken a little too much… Raccoons at night were my main concern.
A few months of this started to feel like Russian roulette. Like so many other pet chicken owners, I decided to try building an automatic chicken coop door.
On Youtube there are plenty of automatic chicken coop doors that use string to raise/lower a guillotine-style door, sliding vertically in a track. It’s a safe design — it won’t kill chickens if one gets in the way while closing — but I was worried the door would get jammed from ice & snow.
I wanted something with a direct drive to use with a door that swung up on hinges to open. Here’s what I ended up using:
- 12V linear actuator, 8″ extension, IP65 rated w/ built-in limit switches & mounting brackets: ~
- (2) 12V programmable digital timers:
- 12V DPDT relay w/ base:
- Wiring, inline fuse holder/fuse, terminals: $6
A/C dedicated power option:
- 12V 6-amp power adapter:
A/C with power outage protection:
- 12V 7-amp battery:
- battery maintainer:
D/C solar power option:
- 12V 7-amp battery:
- Low-watt solar panel:
- 12V solar charge controller: (optional)
Total cost: $81 dedicated A/C, $111 A/C battery backup, or $123 solar D/C ($138 w/ charge controller)
Linear actuators use a small motor to move an extendable/retractable arm. The arm moves very slowly with 50 to 200 pounds of force. Get one with built-in limit switches & an IP65 rating so dust/water/ice/snow is no problem — pretty great for chicken coops. There are various lengths for the arm travel distance. I got the 8″ model & it takes about 20 seconds to extend/retract the arm … plenty of time for chickens to move out of the way. Small 12V actuators like these usually have a rating of around ~5 amps, so make sure to use a relay, fuse & wiring that’s appropriate. Also make sure the actuator comes with mounting brackets, or you’ll need to come up with something.
Typically, actuators with higher force ratings mean slower movement. Same goes for the arm extension length — longer extension means your door closes more slowly — more time for chickens to get out of the way.
Next, how to power it. If your coop is near A/C power, you could use a 12V power supply instead of the battery/solar panel. Just make sure the power supply is rated for enough amps to reliably drive the linear actuator motor. Better yet, use a 12V battery permanently hooked up to a battery maintainer & you won’t ever have to worry about power outages.
Our coop is on wheels & we move it around our field far away from A/C power, so I needed it to be self-powered. Linear actuators only draw a few amps so a small 12V battery will do the trick — I had an old one lying around that wouldn’t start the lawn mower anymore, but worked great for the coop door.
To recharge the battery, I used a small 1.25-watt 12V solar panel. Since the panel’s power output is so low, it acts as a trickle charger, & that way you may not need a solar charge controller as long as the panel is in direct sunlight for most of the day. I’d still recommend a charge controller to make sure the panel doesn’t have a net drain effect on the battery in winter or other low-light conditions.
Last challenge was for the door to open in the morning & close in the evening. I went with a simple setup with very low power draw: two programmable 12V timers. The first timer (the “power timer”) switches on twice a day for 1 minute each to provide power to the actuator. The second timer (the “reversing timer”) energizes a DPDT relay concurrently during one of the power timer events to reverse polarity to the actuator. That opens & closes the coop door.
The last piece is a 12V DPDT relay wired as an H-bridge. This relay has 4 sets of /- pins: normally closed (NC), normally open (NO), common, & coil. The coil switches the common between the NC pins to the NO pins. For the H-bridge setup:
- connect your power source (+/-) to the timers’ power inputs. Fuse on the (+) wire.
- both timers: jump power (+) over to the 1st switch pin.
- power timer: connect 2nd switch pin (+) to a NC pin on the relay.
- jump that same NC pin (+) to a NO pin, but with opposite polarity.
- reversing timer: connect 2nd switch pin (+) to a coil pin (doesn’t matter which one).
- connect the linear actuator (+/-) to the common pins.
- connect ground (-) to the remaining open pins on NC, NO, & coil.
If when you’re all done the actuator operates the opposite from what you want, just flip the actuator’s connections to the relay’s common pins.
Next, program the timers so their clocks are set identically. Let them sit for a few days & figure out which timer is faster than the other. Use the faster timer for the reversing timer.
Power timer: set for two daily events (morning & night) of 1 minute each. For example, 6:30AM- 6:31AM and 9:00PM – 9:01PM.
Reversing timer: set to run concurrently with the morning power timer event, so it comes on sooner & stays on longer than the power timer. For example, 6:30AM – 6:35AM. I prefer the morning run so if anything goes wrong it only means the door won’t open (no big deal).
Whenever you change the time, make sure the reversing timer is always just a bit ahead. This way you can have the morning event start at the same time on both timers.
Check the timers after a month. I was surprised to find my timers get about 20 seconds off from each other. To compensate, I set my reversing timer event to stay on for 5 minutes — energizing the relay coil is a very minor drain on the battery. That way my system can run for over a year before I’d have to resync the timer clocks. I change the timer settings 3-4 times a year anyway, to adjust for daylight.
Here’s the whole system in action:
UPDATE: In the video I mention mypushcart.com as a good source for the actuator, but they don’t include mounting brackets. Lately you can find IP65-rated actuators on eBay with mounting brackets included for the same $60 price, with free shipping.
Chicken Coop Ideas in Letohatchee, Alabama
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Letohatchee Alabama" into any one of the numerous search engines and a wealth of information will pop up. This information will provide links to other websites that will be informative and will provide the right direction for finding Letohatchee Alabama chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Letohatchee, Alabama With the substantial boost in poultry maintaining there has been an equally large surge in the variety of chicken materiel for sale. Fowl housing is an instance in factor. It's additionally a classic example of the great old bandwagon being got on as various prospective chicken real estate experts pitch an array of holiday accommodation asserting to be the perfect option to your chicken real estate requirements. Frequently the cost looks eye-catching, the house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Certainly they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical and also horrible cages swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed container showed up. The result was just an expensive pile of fire wood and a little group of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Baby Chicken in Letohatchee, Alabama
More often than not these mass produced models are created of quick grown hardwood - come the very first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The initial cozy day indicates the hardwood dries out as well as splits, the really felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decline of their once desirable home yet because the hovel is now a place for, and also most likely abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly match four large chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you entrusted? A number of joints and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big area as well as the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the type you keep, after that the major demands of housing come down to three points which will define the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch must be more than the nest box access as chickens will also normally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of warm air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on contrary walls of your house and also at the same degree, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still true, but you ought to likewise consider the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a totally free array bird is (and also allow's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens in your home is perhaps boosted or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the right perches, correct ventilation and also enough nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get what you pay for". You may believe you've got a deal, but you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the right treatment. In the long run your poultry and also your poultry keeping experience will certainly be a lot the far better for it.chicken for sale
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