Chicken Coops for Sale in Glendale Heights, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Glendale Heights, Illinois
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 And Run Plans in Glendale Heights, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Glendale Heights Illinois" 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 Glendale Heights Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Glendale Heights, Illinois With the huge rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally big rise in the variety of chicken materiel on sale. Poultry housing is a case in point. It's also a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as different would-be chicken housing professionals market a variety of holiday accommodation asserting to be the perfect solution to your chicken housing needs. Often the cost looks eye-catching, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many low-cost and also nasty cages flooding the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was just a pricey stack of fire wood and a little group of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Materials List in Glendale Heights, Illinois
Generally these standardized models are built of rapid grown lumber - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking occupants. The very first warm day indicates the hardwood dries and fractures, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching commercial property but considering that the hovel is now a place for, and also possibly crawling with, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly match four big hens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A couple of joints and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, after that the main needs of housing come down to three points which will define the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Most breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be above the nest box access as chickens will also naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch less than 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 should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they need 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 in front. Ideally your house must have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and these must be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Know, air flow deals with the concept of warm air leaving via a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on contrary walls of your home and at the very same level, this is what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still real, but you ought to also take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a free array bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens at home is perhaps enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close take a look at some of the bargain houses - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, proper air flow as well as enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you get what you spend for". You might believe you've got hold of a bargain, yet you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will last for a couple of years, otherwise longer provided the appropriate therapy. In the long run your chicken as well as your fowl keeping encounter will be a lot the much better for it.for sale diy
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