Chicken Coops for Sale in Moulton, Texas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Moulton, 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 For Sale Near Me in Moulton, Texas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Moulton 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 Moulton Texas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Moulton, Texas With the big boost in poultry maintaining there has been a just as large increase in the variety of chicken stuff for sale. Fowl real estate is a case in point. It's additionally a traditional example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various potential chicken housing experts market a range of accommodation claiming to be the ideal solution to your chicken real estate requirements. Often the price looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Definitely they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive and also unpleasant coops swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed container showed up. The outcome was only a costly stack of firewood and also a small flock of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop You Can Walk In in Moulton, Texas
Generally these standardized designs are constructed of fast grown timber - come the first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The first warm day suggests the hardwood dries out and fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their as soon as desirable home yet considering that the hovel is currently a place for, and possibly abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you entrusted? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large room and also the pop hole door is big enough for the breed you maintain, after that the major demands of housing boil down to 3 points which will certainly define the variety of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally normally seek the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds and these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your home. Your house must have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will develop every night, even in the coldest of climate. Be aware, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving through a high void attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of the house and at the exact same degree, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still real, but you should likewise think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a free array bird is (and allow's face it, among the motivations for keeping some hens in your home is possibly improved or far better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, correct air flow and also enough nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get what you spend for". You may believe you've grabbed a deal, however you as well as your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the correct therapy. In the long run your poultry as well as your fowl keeping experience will be considerably the far better for it.plans for sale
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