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Chicken Coops for Sale in North Lawrence, New York

Chicken Coops for Sale in North Lawrence, New York

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 coops for sale in North Lawrence New York can be found in agricultural newspapers and community newspapers. The coops are designed for housing for chickens in a safe and secure environment. They generally consist of a small building or large box that is then sectioned off to smaller boxes where the chickens go to roost (or sleep). Chicken coops are a must for raising chickens. North Lawrence New York chicken coops are commonly constructed from wood products. They are not very stable buildings and provide only minimal protection from the elements. Now chicken houses used for large production facilities are a entirely different structure, they are huge and can hold up to 10000 chickens. The coops are typically used for backyard operations, or small family farms. They vary in size depending on the number of residents they house. chicken-coops-in-North Lawrence-NYFinding chicken coops for sale in North Lawrence New York is probably not one of the easiest of items to find. There are manufacturers of chicken houses and coops that sell them out right and North Lawrence New York farm supply stores that they can also be purchased through, but generally speaking it will take some effort to find a chicken coop for sale in North Lawrence New York, especially if your location is not a typically rural location. In rural locations that are much more abundant and easily had. Chicken Coops for sale in North Lawrence NY

Chicken Coop Designs in North Lawrence, New York

A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in North Lawrence New York" 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 North Lawrence New York chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in North Lawrence, New York With the big rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally big rise in the array of fowl materiel on sale. Poultry real estate is a situation in factor. It's likewise a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various potential fowl real estate professionals peddle a selection of accommodation asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the price looks desirable, the house looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap and horrible coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was nothing but a pricey heap of firewood as well as a small flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams. Chickens for sale in North Lawrence NY

Baby Chick Varieties in North Lawrence, New York

Generally these mass produced models are constructed of quick grown up wood - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day suggests the wood dries and splits, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decrease of their when eye-catching commercial property but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a place for, and also probably abounding, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would fit 4 large chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you left with? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run affixed. Thinking you are varying your birds in a huge area as well as the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you maintain, after that the main needs of real estate come down to 3 points which will specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly also normally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries might happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds and these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. Your house ought to have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every evening, even in the coldest of climate. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of warm air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of holes on other walls of your home and also at the very same level, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, yet you ought to also take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a cost-free variety bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is potentially boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, right air flow and enough nest boxes for a practical number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you get just what you pay for". You might assume you've got a deal, however you as well as your group might rue the day you did. Purchase the right house as well as it will last for a couple of years, if not longer given the correct therapy. In the long run your poultry and also your chicken maintaining experience will be considerably the far better for it.
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