Chicken Coops for Sale in Tower Hill, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Tower Hill, 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 From Pallets in Tower Hill, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Tower Hill 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 Tower Hill Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Tower Hill, Illinois With the substantial increase in poultry keeping there has actually been an equally big rise in the variety of fowl stuff for sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's also a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various potential fowl housing experts market a range of accommodation asserting to be the optimal option to your chicken housing demands. Usually the price looks appealing, your house looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive as well as nasty coops swamping the market. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was just a pricey heap of fire wood and also a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Yard Ideas in Tower Hill, Illinois
Most of the time these standardized designs are constructed of fast grown timber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking occupants. The very first warm and comfortable day implies the wood dries out and also fractures, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their when appealing home yet because the hovel is now a haven for, and probably crawling with, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 large hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds need to cost you around ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge space and also the pop opening door allows sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the major demands of housing boil down to three points which will define the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entry as chickens will certainly also naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in the house they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home must have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these should be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. The house should have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, even in the chilliest of climate. Be aware, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving via a high void drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your home and at the same degree, this is exactly what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still real, but you should additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary range bird is (as well as let's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is potentially enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close consider several of the deal residences - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, right air flow and also ample nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may think you've grabbed a bargain, however you and your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and also it will last for a few years, otherwise longer provided the appropriate treatment. Eventually your chicken and also your chicken keeping experience will certainly be a lot the much better for it.chick chicken
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