Chicken Coops for Sale in Muddy, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Muddy, 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 Reviews in Muddy, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Muddy 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 Muddy Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Muddy, Illinois With the big rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as huge rise in the range of poultry paraphernalia on sale. Chicken real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's additionally a traditional instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various potential poultry real estate specialists peddle an array of accommodation declaring to be the optimal solution to your chicken housing demands. Often the rate looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous inexpensive and awful coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The result was only a pricey stack of fire wood and a small flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop You Can Walk In in Muddy, Illinois
Most of the time these standardized designs are created of fast grown up hardwood - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The initial cozy day suggests the timber dries and cracks, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decline of their as soon as desirable home however due to the fact that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also most likely crawling with, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would fit four large hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you left with? A few joints as well as some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a huge space and also the pop opening door allows enough for the type you maintain, after that the primary demands of real estate come down to three factors which will define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Most types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly also naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could possibly happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is certainly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in the house they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably the house must have a least one nest box for each 3 birds and also these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house should have appropriate ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every evening, even in the coldest of climate. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of cozy air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of the house as well as at the same degree, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still true, however you must likewise consider the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a totally free array bird is (as well as let's encounter it, one of the motivations for maintaining some chickens in your home is potentially improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow as well as enough nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get just what you spend for". You could believe you've got a deal, however you and your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and also it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer offered the proper treatment. In the end your chicken and also your fowl maintaining encounter will certainly be a lot the better for it.plans coops
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