Chicken Coops for Sale in Southside, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Southside, West Virginia
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 Building Plans in Southside, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Southside West Virginia" 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 Southside West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Southside, West Virginia With the big increase in chicken keeping there has actually been an equally huge increase in the array of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Chicken real estate is a proceedings in point. It's additionally a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous would-be chicken housing specialists peddle an array of holiday accommodation claiming to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing needs. Usually the price looks attractive, your house looks attractive, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of economical as well as awful cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was nothing but a pricey pile of fire wood and also a tiny group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Baby Chicken in Southside, West Virginia
More often than not these mass produced designs are built of rapid grown lumber - come the very first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not shut, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The very first warm day indicates the hardwood dries and fractures, the felt roof bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their once attractive residential property yet since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and probably abounding, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 big chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A few joints and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large area and also the pop hole door allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main needs of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly define the number of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly likewise naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create one of the most poo) bring about stained eggs the following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds as well as these should be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. The house must have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every evening, even in the coldest of weather. Know, ventilation deals with the principle of warm air leaving through a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of your home and also at the same degree, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still real, but you need to also take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens in the house is perhaps boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close check out a few of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, appropriate ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You may assume you've got hold of a deal, however you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and also it will last for a couple of decades, if not longer provided the correct therapy. In the long run your poultry and also your poultry keeping experience will be much the much better for it.plans for sale
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