Chicken Coops for Sale in Grafton, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Grafton, Vermont
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 Chicken in Grafton, Vermont
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Grafton Vermont" 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 Grafton Vermont chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Grafton, Vermont With the huge increase in chicken maintaining there has been a just as big rise in the range of poultry materiel on sale. Poultry housing is an instance in factor. It's also a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective chicken real estate professionals pitch a selection of accommodation claiming to be the optimal solution to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the price looks attractive, your house looks appealing, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they recognize a quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap as well as unpleasant coops flooding the marketplace. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail showed up. The result was only a pricey stack of firewood and a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken House in Grafton, Vermont
Most of the time these mass produced models are built of fast grown lumber - come the initial drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The first cozy day indicates the lumber dries out as well as cracks, the really felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as desirable building yet because the hovel is now a place for, and probably abounding, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would fit four large chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of joints as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large room as well as the pop opening door allows enough for the type you keep, then the primary requirements of real estate boil down to 3 points which will specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be above the nest box entrance as chickens will likewise naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they create one of the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little types this is certainly much less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in the house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house needs to have a least one nest box for each three birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. The house should have appropriate ventilation: without it then condensation will accumulate every night, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, air flow works with the principle of warm air leaving via a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of holes on contrary wall surfaces of your house and also at the same level, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still true, however you need to likewise take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a complimentary range bird is (as well as allow's face it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at some of the bargain homes - it could well be your house has the best perches, correct ventilation and ample nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You may think you've got hold of a deal, however you and your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and also it will certainly last for a couple of years, otherwise longer offered the appropriate therapy. In the end your chicken as well as your chicken keeping encounter will be considerably the far better for it.plans plans
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