Chicken Coops for Sale in Gamaliel, Kentucky
Chicken Coops for Sale in Gamaliel, Kentucky
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 Enclosures in Gamaliel, Kentucky
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Gamaliel Kentucky" 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 Gamaliel Kentucky chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Gamaliel, Kentucky With the massive increase in poultry keeping there has actually been an equally huge surge in the array of fowl materiel on sale. Chicken housing is a proceedings in factor. It's also a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous potential fowl real estate specialists market a selection of accommodation asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken real estate requirements. Often the rate looks desirable, the house looks desirable, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical and awful cages swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was just an expensive stack of firewood and also a little flock of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Yard Ideas in Gamaliel, Kentucky
Most of the time these standardized designs are created of rapid grown wood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't shut, or tearing the doorway furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking occupants. The initial warm day indicates the wood dries and splits, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as attractive residential property however since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and possibly crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would match four large hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large space and the pop hole doorway allows enough for the breed you maintain, after that the primary requirements of real estate boil down to 3 points which will define the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost at night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise normally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they ought to be greater 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 ahead. Ideally your house must have a least one nest box for every three birds and these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest location of the house. The house needs to have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every evening, even in the chilliest of weather. Realize, air flow works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on contrary walls of the house and also at the exact same degree, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still true, however you should additionally consider the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping density for a totally free variety bird is (and let's face it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is potentially boosted or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the bargain residences - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, right air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a practical number of birds, yet 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 exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've got hold of a bargain, yet you and also your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the best house as well as it will last for a couple of years, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Eventually your chicken and also your chicken maintaining experience will certainly be a lot the far better for it.plan chicken
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