Chicken Coops for Sale in Troxelville, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Troxelville, 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.
Baby Chick Facts in Troxelville, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Troxelville 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 Troxelville Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Troxelville, Pennsylvania With the big increase in poultry keeping there has been a just as large increase in the array of chicken materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in point. It's also a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different would-be fowl housing specialists peddle an array of lodging asserting to be the ideal solution to your chicken real estate demands. Frequently the price looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several economical as well as nasty coops swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've tested a number of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was only a pricey pile of firewood and a small group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Hut in Troxelville, Pennsylvania
Typically these mass produced versions are constructed of fast grown up wood - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that won't close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking citizens. The initial warm and comfortable day indicates the wood dries and cracks, the really felt roof bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their when appealing home yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a haven for, as well as most likely crawling with, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 huge chickens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are varying your birds in a huge area and also the pop opening door is big enough for the breed you maintain, after that the main requirements of housing boil down to three factors which will certainly define the number of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Most types of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entry as chickens will also normally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) resulting in stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is undoubtedly much less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house needs to have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and also these need to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. Your house must have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the chilliest of climate. Understand, air flow works on the concept of warm air leaving via a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your house and at the same level, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected then the factors above are still real, however you ought to additionally consider the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a totally free range bird is (and let's face it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens in the house is possibly improved or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider some of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the right perches, correct ventilation and also sufficient nest boxes for a practical number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get what you spend for". You could believe you've got a deal, but you and your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house as well as it will last for a couple of years, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Ultimately your chicken as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will be a lot the much better for it.coop coop
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