Chicken Coops for Sale in Cliff, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Cliff, New Mexico
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 Small in Cliff, New Mexico
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Cliff New Mexico" 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 Cliff New Mexico chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Cliff, New Mexico With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has been a similarly huge increase in the range of chicken materiel for sale. Chicken real estate is a situation in point. It's also a timeless example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different potential poultry real estate professionals market a variety of accommodation claiming to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate needs. Often the rate looks appealing, your house looks eye-catching, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Definitely they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and horrible cages flooding the market. I recognize this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was just an expensive heap of firewood and a little flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Care in Cliff, New Mexico
Most of the time these standardized models are constructed of fast grown hardwood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The initial warm day indicates the timber dries out as well as fractures, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not because of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their as soon as desirable building however considering that the hovel is now a haven for, and probably crawling with, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would match four huge chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you entrusted? A few hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole door allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main demands of housing come down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits easily on it. The perch should be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally normally search for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they create the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally the house must have a least one nest box for every three birds as well as these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your house needs to have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every evening, even in the chilliest of weather. Be aware, ventilation deals with the concept of warm air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of your house as well as at the very same degree, this is what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still true, yet you must additionally think about the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping density for a totally free variety bird is (and also allow's encounter it, among the inspirations for keeping some hens in your home is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close check out some of the bargain homes - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, correct ventilation and adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You could think you've got hold of a bargain, yet you as well as your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house as well as it will certainly last for a few decades, if not longer offered the right therapy. In the long run your chicken and also your fowl maintaining encounter will certainly be a lot the far better for it.chicken coop
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