Please help Chicken Coop ideas!

iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
So you let them out at 6AM and back in at 8:30PM, and the door should be open between those hours. Do they change their schedule or you yours depending on the time of year or do you want it open for those same 14.5hrs every day all year around? I suppose a simple manual adjustment of the time once every month or two will keep you from worrying about a real-time-clock. I suspect the letting 'em out is not an issue as the door will be open all day. The closing of the door is the transition to consider closely. How will you tell them "I'm closing the door hurry on in now!" You know their behavior, are they waiting at the door when you arrive or do they come only when you show up. Don't know how smart they are, but maybe they can be conditioned to go in when a sound, tone or some sort, is played. A door that closes 1 degree/sec will give them 90 seconds to whoop their asses in there and it shouldn't scramble any eggs!
 

someonesdad

Joined Jul 7, 2009
1,583
do you mind telling us what's that method? or do you have link explaining it? :)
I'd love to, but I had my eyes closed when he did it. But you all are smart engineers, so you should be able to figure it out. :p

I'm getting close to dinner, so I won't disclose the method right now -- besides, let's see if anyone knows it. I'm going to be running a sprinkler line tomorrow through our lawn about 10 m and I'll be using a derivative method.

Of course, when I get a little time, I'll write it up and post it. It's a nice technique if you can use it, but it would probably be a bit tough in sandy soil like some I dug in at my sister-in-law's house in Spokane WA a couple of weeks ago or soil with a lot of rocks in it. Frankly, I slapped myself in the forehead when I watched him do it and said, "Of course!".
 

someonesdad

Joined Jul 7, 2009
1,583
The closing of the door is the transition to consider closely. How will you tell them "I'm closing the door hurry on in now!"
Actually, chickens are fairly dumb. You typically don't need to train them except when they're chicks. We keep our chicks in small cages and put the cages into the coop at dusk and take them out in the morning. Time is pretty irrelevant -- if I don't get out to the coop until 10 am, our chickens and ducks just wait patiently (they don't have much choice). Well, except for one of our ducks who's imprinted on humans -- when she hears me in the morning, she starts quacking because she knows I'll just have fed the cats and I always leave her a little bit of the cat food as a treat (she LOVES cat food). Talk about a Pavlovian response...

In other words, you don't need anything fancy -- no alarms, sounds, whatever. The old paradigm of KISS works well here.

Your chickens will return to the coop at dusk and get in by themselves. You just have to make sure the door closing time is, say, 30 minutes after sun down. They're quite predictable and will all be bedded down well before dark. We have to wait until after dark to close the door because our ducks are party animals and cruise the yard and swim in their pool until the last possible moment. They typically won't go in the coop until it's fully dark out.
 

Thread Starter

1ofakindwork

Joined Jul 27, 2011
58
Ionic you are a trip...I know you are not reading any of this material besides what you write, because I've already stated that the door stays open all day until I close them up at night. I also mentioned my ideas of using sounds to associate different things going on....Hey but I'm glad you've decided to put your input in. It's keeping me on my toes. Thanks for all the input someonesdad, I can see you are a seasoned vet in the chicken business. I really appreciate all the info. I would like to hear this secret society wire running method. I also believe in the keep it simple method, I just always push the limits to keep myself on my toes. I can say I've really enjoyed the interactions with everyone on this site. Thank you guys for all the help. I'll keep tinkering and keep you guys posted on my progress. Please keep the good ideas coming.
 

williamj

Joined Sep 3, 2009
180
1ofakindwork,

Everyone here has been spot on with help and advice offered.

I am a retired industrial electrician and from what I see, you are a creating a productuion line (although the voltages are different, one machine does one job then hands off to another machine to do another job and so on) from scratch.

The advice to do one job, get that one complete and opperational, and then move on to the next is EXACTLY how it is done. Once enough of the individual tasks are completed then and only then should you attemp to combine operations.

Once you begin combining functions (door opens, feeder door cycles, heaters and lights cycle on and off, door closes etc.) wire the programmable controls in parallel to the original manual controls. At some point in time you will want a manual overide, so leave the manual controls in place (I've seen somepretty strange stuff regarding this :\ )

(someonesdad)

For a small buried cable I would first dig two appropriately sized holes (begining/end), attached an appropriately sized piece of steel flat stock (sharpened on one edge) to a small/large tractor, attach underground cable to bottom end of steel flat stock, place tractor over (and flat stock (with sharpened edge facing direction of travel) and cable in) beginning hole and drive to ending hole.

just me two cents,
williamj
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
as you evaluate your setup, it would appear that your destined to utlize the solar panel. You should probably consider your power requirements during the colder seasons, where heat becomes a necessity, unless all your chickens are in the freezer (literally). Ventilation during the hotter seasons as well. Calculate your real time wattage over the year produced by the panel. You'll store excess in your battery, but you need to produce it to drive your predicted loads.

The advice to do one job, get that one complete and opperational, and then move on to the next is EXACTLY how it is done. Once enough of the individual tasks are completed then and only then should you attemp to combine operations.
Yes, piecemealing is often how it's done, but's it's not the best approach.

Are you looking to service the needs of your flock, or are you just playing with electronics?

Years ago, a friend of mine farmed swine. He was stuck in manual mode until we pulled him a hefty 2phase supply. Now all his animals have RF tags, are gated per wieght, weigh fed, and marketed at thier peak pricing.
 

iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
Ionic you are a trip...I know you are not reading any of this material besides what you write, because I've already stated that the door stays open all day until I close them up at night. I also mentioned my ideas of using sounds to associate different things going on....Hey but I'm glad you've decided to put your input in. It's keeping me on my toes.
Ahh, you are hurting my feelings here. I have been reading all the posts and must have blundered with respect to the door being open all day. I've simply ingested far too much BGH and other pesticides over the years. I'm smartening up now, but like quitting smoking it may take some time for the adverse affects to wear off....if ever. Trust me, I take no credit for being so stupid or forgetful. I know it's all those conspirators and money starved corporate types from Monsanto, Pepsico and the like. They are to blame!!!
 

someonesdad

Joined Jul 7, 2009
1,583
By the way, our chickens and ducks survive just fine summer and winter -- no heating or ventilation is required. We built them a coop from scrap materials 15 or so years ago (maybe longer, I can't remember). The front and back openings are open during summer for ventilation and closed during the winter. The birds survive just fine from temperatures below zero F to above 100 deg F. In hot weather, they need places with good shade and we are careful to make sure they have plenty of water. In the winter, the duck pool gets a heater in it that keeps it from freezing, so the birds and the outside cats all have water.

That's the second roof; the first batch of material rotted and blew away a few years ago. My wife found that stuff for free from someone.

I ran lights and an outlet in the coop just in case I ever ran power to it, but I've never done it. I also drilled holes in the 2x6's on either end so I can hook it up to the Land Cruiser and haul it around the yard. We've moved it only once.
 

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strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
1. stop talking about how much you don't know. I just read through all 3 pages of your post and it gets a little old after a while.

2. refer to the drawing i made below. it should get you started with phase 1: make the door open/close at a set time



Here's the timer. if you could find one that runs on 12vdc that would even be better.

And whats the deal with all these chicken coup posts? I think we need a chicken coup sticky
 

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Thread Starter

1ofakindwork

Joined Jul 27, 2011
58

Thread Starter

1ofakindwork

Joined Jul 27, 2011
58
Hello Strantor,
I want to make sure I'm understand this. With the diargram I will set the timer to be on from 6:30 am to 9:00pm (Door Open)(NO);Then set it for power off 9:00 pm to 6:30 am (Door Closed)(NC)....Thanks for your help!
 

iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
Damn chickens, why do they make our lives so difficult?
I can tell it should take very little energy to open and close the door, so the solar power via two 12V Batteries will do just fine for this phase of the project.

You could just go the cheapest route and send your kid, or your wife out there to manage the door while you sip your Rolling Rock from inside the cozy home with the morning paper between your legs that they too have fetched for you. On second thought, it seems quite cheep on the surface, but when you get down to the nitty gritty your going to have to pay dearly in the end.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
The first one draws too much power. 4W
The second one looks good.
The 3rd one has internal batteries; I don't like that.

You won't gain anything by using 2 relays as an H-bridge; it will actually consume more power. If you want to go super efficient, instead of using the relay as I suggested, use a MOSFET h-bridge.

Strantor

Do you have any suggestion to which DPDT to get. Thanks for the diagram.
Any DPDT with contacts rated for the amperage that your window motor draws and 12V. Try to get one with the highest coil resistance you can find or the lowest coil power consumption you can find (same thing, they just give different specs for different relays)

Hello Strantor,
I want to make sure I'm understand this. With the diargram I will set the timer to be on from 6:30 am to 9:00pm (Door Open)(NO);Then set it for power off 9:00 pm to 6:30 am (Door Closed)(NC)....Thanks for your help!
That will depend on which direction your window motor spins when you apply a "positive" voltage to it; it's all relative. you will just have to hook it up and see which way the thing spins when the contact is open and when it is closed.

My apologies, I made an error in my drawing. The limit switches are wrong. The way I have drawn it, it will go all the way to one end, stop, and never go back the other direction. you would have to physically move the limit switch to permit it to go back the other way. I know the correction I need to make but don't have time; I'm headed out the door, but if you're patient I can fix it tomorrow; or maybe someone could fix it for me? .
 

praondevou

Joined Jul 9, 2011
2,942
They all seem to fit your needs. note they have 12VDC coil voltage.

I was also wondering if I could use this to create an H-bridge (to simulate my reverse polarity)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160580214332&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
You don't need two relays to inverse the polarity if you follow Strantor's diagram. It's one dpdt relay and you get them on ebay too. The first seller whose timer you posted for example has some (this is just an example): http://cgi.ebay.com/5pcs-12V-DC-Coi...266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6726cd02
 

praondevou

Joined Jul 9, 2011
2,942
Ok, here is the modified drawing from Strantor.

Description is on the picture. If you use the 12VDC timer connect it to your battery.

EDIT: oops, cross-posting with Strantor :)
 

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strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Ok, here is the modified drawing from Strantor.

Description is on the picture. If you use the 12VDC timer connect it to your battery.

EDIT: oops, cross-posting with Strantor :)
Thanks Praondevou! That's exactly what I was was going to do.

Just got back from seeing "Cowboys and Aliens" with my wife. It was better than I thought it was going to be.
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
check out this for the correct way to wire it: http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=53392

See post #3 where Kermit posted pretty much the exact same thing I just posted, and then post 5 where I corrected his drawing the way it should be.

you need to wire yours like post number 5 in the link


.....I knew I had already drawn this before....
I've been reading along and staying quiet, not wanting to interrupt, but I get dragged into the chicken coup anyway... :)

AND i'm used as an example of what NOT to do. Thanks fellas. :p
 
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