Chicken Coops for Sale in Freeburg, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Freeburg, Pennsylvania
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 Blueprints in Freeburg, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Freeburg Pennsylvania" 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 Freeburg Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Freeburg, Pennsylvania With the massive rise in chicken maintaining there has actually been an equally huge increase in the range of chicken paraphernalia on sale. Poultry housing is an instance in point. It's also a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various prospective chicken real estate professionals pitch a variety of cottage declaring to be the suitable solution to your chicken real estate requirements. Frequently the rate looks appealing, your house looks eye-catching, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous inexpensive as well as unpleasant 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 with one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was only a pricey stack of fire wood as well as a small group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop And Run For Sale in Freeburg, Pennsylvania
Typically these standardized models are created of quick grown wood - come the very first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking inhabitants. The first cozy day indicates the hardwood dries out and also splits, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as desirable commercial property however since the hovel is now a place for, as well as possibly abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit four large hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A few joints and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you keep, after that the primary demands of real estate come down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost at night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off edges so the foot sits easily on it. The perch should be above the nest box entry as chickens will also naturally seek the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they produce the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably the house must have a least one nest box for every three birds and these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest location of your home. The house should have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every night, even in the coldest of climate. Realize, air flow works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of holes on other wall surfaces of the house and also at the exact same degree, this is what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, but you must additionally think about the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking density for a complimentary array bird is (and also let's encounter it, among the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is potentially enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at a few of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the best perches, appropriate air flow and also adequate nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You might think you've got hold of a bargain, however you as well as your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and also it will last for a few decades, if not longer given the right therapy. Ultimately your chicken and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be much the better for it.chicken chickens
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