Recent content by CedarLake

  1. CedarLake

    House in enclosed run - who doesn't shut coop door at night

    My coop is enclosed by a run fenced with chicken wire and for the longest time, I kept both doors open. Our German Shepherd used to roam all over the place and I think that's why we were predator free for so long. Now he pretty much stays near the house :-( Never had a night time predator, but...
  2. CedarLake

    Lighting Coop with No Electricty

    How much light do you need? I have a 1Watt LED light in my 4'x8' coop that I run from a motorcycle battery and it's bright enough to see what I'm doing in the dark when I get home late. When the battery dies, I just bring it back in the house and recharge it. I have some information on getting...
  3. CedarLake

    Let their be light..........

    I have home made LED lighting in my coop. It's not solar powered: I just use a battery since I only use it to check on them at night, not for laying purposes. Except for a one-week gap when we ran out of eggs last winter, five hens provided enough eggs for us since they lay faster than we can...
  4. CedarLake

    Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

    My "low-tech" solution used relays to control the motor direction and was described along with a schematic diagram several pages ago. This is a long thread - I wrote that back in December :-) I doubt that slowing down the drill will be a problem. At least in my case, the door doesn't need much...
  5. CedarLake

    Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

    For those of us without a sheet metal brake, drawer slides should work fine and be much smoother. Wish I had thought of that power antenna method: should work slick. HappyHatch'en : I would bend aluminum or sheet metal on a break. to be used as a slide track, screwed to the wall....predator...
  6. CedarLake

    COLD?? HOT?? WHERE TO BUILD MY COOP???

    Sandy: I live about 30 minutes south of the 'Cities and my coop is on the eastern side of a hill. Heat in summer is not a problem, freezing in winter is. I can't tell you how many frozen eggs I've tossed out! My coop has plenty of ventilation and is quite comfortable in summer. The birds would...
  7. CedarLake

    Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

    AdamKristin: I'm happy you found something that works for you. I agree that in some cases it's best to just go with an off the shelf solution. There is one thing I should bring up here: reliability. I have a fair amount of experience working with X-10 in "hands-off" computer controlled...
  8. CedarLake

    Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

    You build your own linear actuator with 1/4-20 threaded rod and a few nuts from Home Depot as long as you can find a motor to drive it. Motors are pretty easy to find for cheap on the surplus market. As far as the direction control is concerned, if you go back a few pages in this thread to mid...
  9. CedarLake

    Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

    I'm guessing you live in a part of the country where the water outside isn't solid and slippery :-) Quote:
  10. CedarLake

    Baby it's cold outside - glad for the extra sq. footage!

    I'm just south of the Twin Cities so we've been having the same temperatures. Laying has definitely slowed down, and they lay so late in the morning that often by the time I get home, the eggs are frozen & cracked. I don't have heat. I don't think they need it, although it would make my life...
  11. CedarLake

    Lighting

    OK, I just didn't want you to think that I might have been ignoring any email I received The LED light is pretty simple to build, but it does require some soldering experience. One alternative may be to get some driveway marker lights (the solar powered ones) and modify them for your coop. It...
  12. CedarLake

    Lighting

    Did you seriously send me an email? Never received it. The solar powered light morphed into the current battery powered light both because I needed more power for the electric door, and because a big lead acid battery will last much longer than a few ni-cads. It ends up being simpler and...
  13. CedarLake

    Lighting

    OK. Will do. I'm actually already planning Phase 2: just can't leave well enough alone :-) Phase 2 is a single (or a few) high power LEDs to light up the outside of the coop because I never can find a flashlight when I need to go out there. What level of detail/type of instructions would you...
  14. CedarLake

    Lighting

    I get home after dark and my coop is way too far from the house to run power or an extension cord. So what I've done is install a surplus 12 volt battery from an old emergency light and built a light fixture from a bunch of white LEDs so I can see what I'm doing when I need to gather eggs and...
  15. CedarLake

    Question for the cold weather people

    My coop is 4x4x8 and I have 5 chickens and two ducks. It's definitely winter here -- temps should get down around zero tonight and so far all the birds are just fine. I have no heat, and very minimal insulation (just some thick corrugated cardboard around the area where they all sleep. I also...
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