Chicken Coops for Sale in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts
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 Guides in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Ashley Falls Massachusetts" 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 Ashley Falls Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts With the massive boost in poultry keeping there has been a similarly big surge in the array of chicken paraphernalia on sale. Fowl real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's additionally a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as different prospective chicken housing professionals pitch a range of lodging asserting to be the optimal option to your chicken real estate needs. Commonly the cost looks attractive, the house looks desirable, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Definitely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap as well as awful coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was nothing but a costly pile of firewood and a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Pallets in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts
Typically these mass produced models are created of fast grown hardwood - come the very first decrease 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 citizens. The first warm day suggests the wood dries out and also cracks, the felt roof bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as appealing home but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a place for, and possibly abounding, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 large chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A number of joints and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge area as well as the pop opening door allows sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the main demands of housing come down to 3 factors which will define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Most types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly also normally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your home they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house needs to have a least one nest box for each three birds as well as these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your house. The house must have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of warm air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on other walls of your home as well as at the very same degree, this is what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, yet you must likewise consider the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a free range bird is (and also let's face it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens at home is possibly boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, proper air flow as well as ample nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You might think you've grabbed a bargain, however you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer given the correct treatment. In the long run your poultry and your fowl keeping encounter will be a lot the much better for it.chick build
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