electronic chicken hatch

[ciribhoy]

Hi, I'm very new to electronics and I'm not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes: I recently bought a few chickens (my girls) and built a house for them, my problem is that ideally chickens should be let out at the break of dawn and allowed back in at dusk to keep any foxes at bay, unfortunately the way my hours at work are this isn't allways possible.

My solution is to build a light activated motorised hatch. The hatch is a simple shutter that slides up (pulled by the motor) and stays open for a predetermined time to allow the chickens in/out, then slides back down to keep the chickens in/out. The shutter will only weigh approx 1/2 lb (1/4 kg) so I'm hoping that 4 AA batteries will be a sufficient power supply.

As I say I'm new to electronics but did a short course in circuit building about 10 years ago. What I really need are a few pointers to get me started regarding the components I should be using (sensors, motor, IC etc)and equipment I would need to purchase to complete the project. I could probably buy something commercially made that would work out as cheaply, but I'd prefer to have a go at building it myself.

Any help or suggestions offered would be greatly appreciated.

Regards Ciribhoy

 

[transistor495]

A hatch means an incubator for making baby chickens right?

 

[Boncuk]

Hi,

a sliding door will more or less mean the sure death of a late chicken. (Some of them don't return home before dark.)

Here is a way to ensure all chicken get home safely.

Use bicycle spokes for steel rods and have them hang down spaced evenly. Push or slide two steel bars up or sideways to block either opening direction or both.

For details see attachment.

Boncuk

 

[ciribhoy]

Sorry, it probably does mean that, I'm not great on the terminology yet. What I'm talking about is a little door much like a cat flap into the chicken coop to allow only the chickens access.

 

[Boncuk]

A hatch means an incubator for making baby chickens right?

Nope. A hatch is something also used on submarines. Having the torpedo hatches closed and firing a torpedo won't make any chicken babies.

 

[ciribhoy]

Thanks Boncuk, that's certainly another way of looking at it, one question however

a sliding door will more or less mean the sure death of a late chicken. (Some of them don't return home before dark.)

If you mean the guillotinesque action of the sliding door, I would plan on having it shutting as slowly as possible and perhaps even retracting if it meets any resistance before closing entirely.

I do still like your idea but what type of device would I use to slide these bars?

 

[transistor495]

Nope. A hatch is something also used on submarines. Having the torpedo hatches closed and firing a torpedo won't make any chicken babies.

Hey Boncuk, ur location made me got memorize Paradorn Srichaphan

Actually what happened to him nowadays? He was a good player.

 

[ericgibbs]

T
I do still like your idea but what type of device would I use to slide these bars?

hi,
They are not sliding bars, they are individually hinged at the top.

Do you follow Ok.?

 

[duffy]

If it's like a cat flap, you might look at using a windshield wiper motor. You can get them at any junkyard cheap, are strong enough to open a small door, only need to be driven in one direction, and have a limit detector switch built in them that could be used to stop it in the closed position.

 

[Boncuk]

Thanks Boncuk, that's certainly another way of looking at it, one question however



If you mean the guillotinesque action of the sliding door, I would plan on having it shutting as slowly as possible and perhaps even retracting if it meets any resistance before closing entirely.

I do still like your idea but what type of device would I use to slide these bars?

I meant the chicken staying outside the house will fall victim to a fox.

The easiest way to move the slide bars - the vertical ones are hinged and move freely - is a motor with a cam pushing the bar up, releasing it when the cam is moved to the parking position which then lowers by gravity force.

Boncuk