Chicken Coops for Sale in Santa Maria, California
Chicken Coops for Sale in Santa Maria, 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 House Plans in Santa Maria, California
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Santa Maria 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 Santa Maria California chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Santa Maria, California With the big boost in chicken maintaining there has actually been a just as huge surge in the variety of poultry materiel on sale. Poultry real estate is a case in point. It's likewise a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous would-be poultry housing specialists pitch an array of lodging declaring to be the excellent remedy to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the rate looks appealing, your house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost and also nasty cages swamping the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The result was just an expensive heap of fire wood as well as a small flock of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Baby Chick For Sale in Santa Maria, California
More often than not these standardized designs are constructed of quick grown lumber - come the very first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The initial cozy day implies the wood dries and also cracks, the felt roof bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as desirable home yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a place for, and possibly crawling with, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit four big chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you entrusted? A number of joints and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a huge space and also the pop hole door allows enough for the type you maintain, after that the major requirements of housing boil down to 3 points which will define the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Most types of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box access as chickens will additionally normally try to find the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they produce one of the most poo) causing soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is clearly much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house needs to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of the house. Your house must have sufficient air flow: without it after that condensation will develop every evening, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works on the concept of cozy air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of the house and also at the very same level, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, but you ought to additionally consider the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a cost-free array bird is (and allow's encounter it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens in your home is possibly improved or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider some of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the best perches, right air flow as well as adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get what you pay for". You could assume you've grabbed a bargain, but you as well as your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and it will certainly last for a few decades, otherwise longer given the proper treatment. Eventually your chicken and your chicken keeping encounter will certainly be much the much better for it.chick chickens
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