Chicken Coops for Sale in Sheffield, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Sheffield, 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.
Baby Yellow Chick in Sheffield, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Sheffield 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 Sheffield Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Sheffield, Massachusetts With the substantial rise in poultry maintaining there has been a just as big surge in the range of fowl stuff for sale. Chicken real estate is a situation in point. It's additionally a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be fowl real estate specialists pitch an array of holiday accommodation declaring to be the perfect remedy to your chicken housing demands. Usually the price looks desirable, the house looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many affordable as well as nasty cages swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've checked a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was only a pricey heap of fire wood as well as a small flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Quality in Sheffield, Massachusetts
Usually these mass produced designs are built of rapid grown timber - come the initial drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day means the hardwood dries out and also cracks, the felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their once eye-catching residential property yet considering that the hovel is now a haven for, and also possibly crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly match four huge hens when that stocking density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A few hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge room as well as the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the type you maintain, then the major requirements of housing come down to three points which will define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly also normally look for the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) leading to stained eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could occur when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home needs to have a least one nest box for every three birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house must have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works on the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the same level, this is exactly what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, but you should also think about the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a totally free range bird is (and allow's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some chickens in your home is perhaps enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider some of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, correct air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get what you spend for". You may believe you've grabbed a deal, yet you and your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Ultimately your poultry as well as your fowl maintaining experience will be much the much better for it.coops chicken
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