Chicken Coops for Sale in Galveston, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Galveston, Indiana
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 Kits Cheap in Galveston, Indiana
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Galveston Indiana" 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 Galveston Indiana chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Galveston, Indiana With the substantial rise in chicken maintaining there has been a similarly big increase in the array of fowl paraphernalia for sale. Fowl housing is a situation in factor. It's also a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential poultry housing experts market a selection of lodging declaring to be the ideal remedy to your chicken housing requirements. Frequently the price looks eye-catching, the house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Surely they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive as well as unpleasant coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've checked a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed container showed up. The outcome was nothing but an expensive stack of fire wood as well as a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop On Wheels in Galveston, Indiana
More often than not these mass produced models are created of rapid grown hardwood - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not shut, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The first warm and comfortable day means the timber dries out as well as fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their when eye-catching commercial property but because the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also most likely crawling with, the fowl caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it stated on the blurb that it would suit four huge chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A few hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a big area and the pop opening doorway allows sufficient for the type you keep, then the major needs of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will certainly define the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Most types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests easily on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly also naturally search for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home must have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. Your home should have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the coldest of climate. Know, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of holes on contrary wall surfaces of the house and at the exact same level, this is what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still real, but you ought to likewise think about the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a complimentary array bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in the house is possibly boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close consider a few of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, right air flow and ample nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet 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 what you spend for". You could assume you've got a bargain, yet you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer given the correct treatment. In the long run your poultry as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will be much the much better for it.plans build
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