Chicken Coops for Sale in Caddo, Texas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Caddo, Texas
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 Kits For 6-8 Chickens in Caddo, Texas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Caddo Texas" 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 Caddo Texas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Caddo, Texas With the big boost in chicken keeping there has been a just as huge surge in the array of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Fowl real estate is a case in factor. It's likewise a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various potential poultry housing specialists peddle a variety of cottage asserting to be the perfect option to your chicken real estate demands. Typically the price looks eye-catching, your house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable and also unpleasant cages swamping the market. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container appeared. The result was just a costly pile of firewood as well as a small flock of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Sale in Caddo, Texas
Usually these mass produced models are created of quick grown hardwood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The first warm and comfortable day indicates the lumber dries out and also fractures, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their when attractive residential property yet since the hovel is currently a haven for, and probably crawling with, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would suit 4 large chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big area and the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the type you maintain, then the major requirements of housing boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. The majority of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they produce one of 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 happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home needs to have a least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these ought to be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. The house ought to have adequate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Realize, ventilation deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of holes on contrary walls of your home as well as at the very same level, this is exactly what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still real, however you need to also take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a free array bird is (and also let's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is possibly enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider several of the deal residences - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, right ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for a practical number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get just what you spend for". You could think you've got a deal, but you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and also it will last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Ultimately your poultry and also your poultry keeping encounter will be much the much better for it.chick build
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