Chicken Coops for Sale in San Simon, Arizona
Chicken Coops for Sale in San Simon, Arizona
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 Free Plans in San Simon, Arizona
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in San Simon Arizona" 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 San Simon Arizona chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in San Simon, Arizona With the big boost in chicken maintaining there has been a just as huge increase in the variety of chicken materiel on sale. Chicken housing is a situation in factor. It's likewise a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various would-be poultry housing experts peddle a range of lodging declaring to be the excellent solution to your chicken housing requirements. Typically the cost looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they recognize a quality chicken house when they see one? There are many inexpensive and also horrible coops swamping the market. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The result was just a costly pile of firewood and a tiny group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For 4 Chickens in San Simon, Arizona
More often than not these mass produced designs are created of quick grown wood - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that won't close, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking occupants. The first warm day indicates the hardwood dries out as well as splits, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decline of their when appealing home however considering that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and probably abounding, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 large hens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A few joints and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big area and the pop opening door allows enough for the breed you keep, after that the primary demands of housing boil down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. The majority of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be above the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could occur when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your house needs to have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds and also these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. Your home ought to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Realize, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on other walls of the house and at the very same degree, this is just what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached then the factors above are still true, but you need to also think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary range bird is (and let's encounter it, one of the motivations for maintaining some chickens in the house is possibly enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close check out a few of the deal homes - it could well be your house has the best perches, right ventilation and enough nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You may believe you've got hold of a bargain, however you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a few years, otherwise longer offered the correct treatment. Eventually your fowl and your chicken keeping encounter will certainly be a lot the better for it.diy build
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