Chicken Coops for Sale in East Hartland, Connecticut
Chicken Coops for Sale in East Hartland, Connecticut
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.
Baby Chicks Hatching in East Hartland, Connecticut
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in East Hartland Connecticut" 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 East Hartland Connecticut chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in East Hartland, Connecticut With the substantial increase in poultry keeping there has actually been a just as big increase in the range of chicken stuff on sale. Fowl real estate is a case in factor. It's additionally a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as different potential chicken real estate experts pitch a selection of accommodation claiming to be the ideal remedy to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the rate looks desirable, your house looks appealing, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Definitely they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several low-cost as well as awful coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was nothing but an expensive stack of firewood as well as a tiny group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Roost Ideas in East Hartland, Connecticut
Most of the time these standardized models are built of rapid grown wood - come the first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking citizens. The very first warm day implies the timber dries and splits, the really felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decline of their when appealing commercial property yet since the hovel is now a haven for, and most likely crawling with, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit four big hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A couple of joints as well as some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big space as well as the pop opening door allows sufficient for the breed you keep, then the major needs of housing boil down to 3 factors which will specify the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your home they ought to be more 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. Ideally the house must have a least one nest box for each 3 birds and also these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. Your house should have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the coldest of weather. Be aware, air flow deals with the principle of cozy air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of your home and at the very same level, this is what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still real, however you must additionally take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (and allow's face it, among the inspirations for keeping some hens in the house is possibly boosted or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at several of the bargain homes - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, appropriate air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get exactly what you spend for". You could think you've grabbed a deal, but you and your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the right treatment. In the long run your fowl as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will certainly be much the far better for it.for sale chick
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