Chicken Coops for Sale in Desert Hot Springs, California
Chicken Coops for Sale in Desert Hot Springs, California
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 Desert Hot Springs, California
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Desert Hot Springs California" 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 Desert Hot Springs California chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Desert Hot Springs, California With the big boost in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally large surge in the range of chicken materiel on sale. Poultry housing is a situation in factor. It's also a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as various would-be chicken housing experts pitch a variety of accommodation declaring to be the perfect remedy to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the price looks attractive, the house looks eye-catching, heck also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Surely they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of low-cost as well as unpleasant cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed pail showed up. The result was just a costly pile of fire wood and also a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Cheap in Desert Hot Springs, California
Most of the time these mass produced models are constructed of quick grown up lumber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The initial cozy day indicates the wood dries out and splits, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching apartment yet considering that the hovel is now a place for, as well as most likely crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly suit four big chickens when that stocking density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge area and the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the type you keep, then the major needs of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch must be above the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally normally seek the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your house they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house should have a least one nest box for each 3 birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. The house must have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the coldest of climate. Understand, air flow works on the principle of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a set of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your house and at the same degree, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still true, yet you must also think about the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking thickness for a free variety bird is (and allow's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps improved or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close consider a few of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the best perches, correct air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You may assume you've got a bargain, but you and also your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and it will last for a couple of years, if not longer offered the right therapy. In the end your poultry and your poultry keeping experience will certainly be a lot the much better for it.coops chick
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