Chicken Coops for Sale in Overton, Nebraska
Chicken Coops for Sale in Overton, Nebraska
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 Designs in Overton, Nebraska
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Overton Nebraska" 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 Overton Nebraska chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Overton, Nebraska With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has been a similarly huge increase in the range of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in factor. It's likewise a classic instance of the great old bandwagon being got on as various would-be fowl real estate specialists pitch a selection of holiday accommodation declaring to be the excellent option to your chicken real estate requirements. Often the price looks attractive, the house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable as well as nasty coops flooding the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was only an expensive heap of firewood and a small group of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken House in Overton, Nebraska
Generally these standardized versions are constructed of quick grown timber - come the first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that won't shut, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking citizens. The initial warm and comfortable day indicates the wood dries and also splits, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decline of their once appealing property however considering that the hovel is now a haven for, and also possibly abounding, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge hens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you left with? A few hinges as well as some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a huge room and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you keep, then the major demands of housing boil down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch must be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly also normally try to find 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 generate the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries can happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home ought to have a least one nest box for each 3 birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your house must have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the chilliest of climate. Know, ventilation works with the concept of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of holes on contrary wall surfaces of your house and also at the exact same level, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still true, but you need to additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a cost-free array bird is (as well as let's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some chickens at home is potentially boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the deal homes - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, correct ventilation as well as adequate nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've got a bargain, however you and your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will last for a few years, if not longer provided the appropriate therapy. In the long run your fowl as well as your poultry maintaining experience will be a lot the far better for it.chicken chick
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