Chicken Coops for Sale in Rosston, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Rosston, Oklahoma
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 Chick Hatcheries in Rosston, Oklahoma
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Rosston Oklahoma" 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 Rosston Oklahoma chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Rosston, Oklahoma With the huge rise in poultry maintaining there has been an equally large increase in the variety of poultry paraphernalia on sale. Fowl real estate is a situation in point. It's also a timeless example of the good old bandwagon being got on as various prospective fowl real estate professionals pitch a range of lodging claiming to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate demands. Frequently the rate looks desirable, the house looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many affordable as well as awful coops swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was only an expensive pile of firewood as well as a little group of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Quality in Rosston, Oklahoma
Usually these standardized models are built of rapid grown wood - come the first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The first warm and comfortable day suggests the hardwood dries out as well as cracks, the really felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as attractive commercial property however because the hovel is now a haven for, as well as probably crawling with, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 large chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A few hinges and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large space and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, then the major demands of housing come down to three factors which will certainly specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally normally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) causing stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries can take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in little types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your house they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for each three birds and these should be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. Your house should have sufficient air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every evening, also in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow deals with the principle of cozy air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of holes on other walls of your house as well as at the exact same degree, this is exactly what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still true, yet you must also consider the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a totally free variety bird is (as well as allow's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens at home is possibly enhanced or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow and adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, but 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 get just what you pay for". You might think you've grabbed a deal, yet you and your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer given the proper treatment. In the end your poultry and your fowl maintaining encounter will be much the much better for it.chick plans
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