Chicken Coops for Sale in Sterling, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Sterling, Kansas
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 Accessories in Sterling, Kansas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Sterling Kansas" 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 Sterling Kansas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Sterling, Kansas With the huge boost in chicken maintaining there has actually been an equally big surge in the variety of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Poultry housing is an instance in point. It's also a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be chicken housing specialists peddle a selection of holiday accommodation claiming to be the excellent remedy to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the cost looks eye-catching, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Undoubtedly they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous inexpensive and also unpleasant coops swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was just a pricey heap of firewood and also a small group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Plans Pdf in Sterling, Kansas
Generally these mass produced designs are built of quick grown up lumber - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't shut, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The first warm and comfortable day suggests the wood dries out and also cracks, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as attractive home yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a haven for, and also most likely abounding, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly suit four big chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big space and also the pop opening door allows sufficient for the type you keep, after that the main needs of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the number of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Most types of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests easily on it. The perch must be above the nest box entry as chickens will likewise naturally look for the acme to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries can occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little types this is undoubtedly less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your home they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. The house needs to have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every evening, even in the chilliest of climate. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on other wall surfaces of your home as well as at the very same level, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still real, but you ought to additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum legal stocking thickness for a cost-free array bird is (and let's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m squared. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be your house has the right perches, right ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get what you spend for". You might believe you've got hold of a deal, yet you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and also it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the appropriate treatment. Ultimately your fowl and your fowl maintaining experience will certainly be considerably the much better for it.diy build
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Kensington, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Mc Cune, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Colony, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Parsons, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Norcatur, Kansas