Chicken Coops for Sale in Loop, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Loop, 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 With Run in Loop, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Loop 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 Loop Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Loop, Pennsylvania With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally large increase in the range of fowl materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in factor. It's likewise a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different prospective poultry real estate specialists peddle a selection of cottage claiming to be the ideal solution to your chicken real estate requirements. Commonly the cost looks appealing, the house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Definitely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous cheap and awful cages flooding the market. I understand this as I've examined a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was only a costly heap of fire wood and also a small flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Hut in Loop, Pennsylvania
Generally these mass produced designs are built of quick grown lumber - come the first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The initial cozy day implies the hardwood dries and also cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their when desirable apartment however due to the fact that the hovel is currently a haven for, as well as probably crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly match four large chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a huge area as well as the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you keep, after that the major requirements of real estate come down to 3 points which will specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly also naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they create the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries can occur when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is certainly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house needs to have a the very least one nest box for every three birds and these ought to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house must have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will accumulate every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Know, ventilation deals with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of holes on contrary wall surfaces of your home and also at the very same level, this is what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, however you need to also take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a free range bird is (and let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is potentially improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close consider some of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the right perches, right air flow and enough 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 spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you get just what you pay for". You might think you've got a bargain, however you and also your group could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and it will last for a few decades, if not longer given the right treatment. Ultimately your fowl and your poultry keeping encounter will be a lot the far better for it.plan build
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Harrison City, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in East Springfield, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Du Bois, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Cadogan, Pennsylvania