So I finally got around to building a new home for the chicken nuggets. Their original home was purchased at the store and it worked, but I wasn't happy with how I had it mounted in the cage, or the poor job I did lighting it. Whenever I needed to remove the coconut, it was always an ordeal and I did a hack job with the wiring. It was late at night and the finches wanted to go to bed so I rushed the first time. Also, their first store bought home was kinda small. I mean, of course they both fit, and in reality it was just fine as I have no doubt 40 more society finches could squeeze in there and be just fine. Society finch homes are like clown cars... However, it was really funny watching Charlie or Emma try to turn around in the original coconut. Their tail feathers would always smack the other in the face and they would make the cutest "pfffft! HEY!?! WTF" type expression. So I figured it was time for an upgrade. Introducing the new larger coconut! Now they have a little more room to stretch out inside. This is especially good when Emma is nesting. She likes to position the eggs in the very center of the nest as expected. In the old nest this generally resulted in Charlie getting pushed up on the sides at night. He looked very uncomfortable sometimes at night. Now he has plenty of room to snuggle up against Emma while she sits on the eggs. Also, in case you are wondering, I used a white coconut to instead of the standard grocery store variety.
1. I actually ended up using two coconuts. The first attempt didn't work out well so I ended up changing the design. The second version called for using both of the cutout disks seen below to sandwich the top of the coconut. This helped distribute the load preventing cracking (The shell gets very thin near the eyes of the coconut). Here I have the three LED holes and a square cut hole for the 3/8" stainless steel carriage bolt.
2. Here I have the LEDs pressed in. Its essentially a "snug" slip fit so I can remove and replace LEDs in the future if needed. The carriage bolt fits in from the bottom and also importantly acts as the ground for the lighting system. I wanted to minimize the number of wires exposed to Charlie as he is quite the trouble maker! All the wiring is hidden on the back side of the disk which is ultimately sandwiched up inside the top of the coconut.
3. Here you can see the essentially completed coconut. Only the single positive wire protrudes out the back of the coconut from under the top cut out. Again, I tried to minimize the number of wires exposed to the chicken nuggets. This also makes wiring a lot cleaner, easier to manage, and robust.
4. The coconut then securely bolts to the top of the cage with a wingnut. Again, all stainless steel hardware so I don't have to worry about corrosion or health concerns for the birbs. There is an SPST switch that bolts to the cage behind the coconut and a short DC electrical jack so everything can be quickly disconnected and the top of the cage can be removed. There is also a quick disconnect for the positive wire going to the coconut so it can be disconnected from the switch for cleaning without having to unbolt the switch too.
5. Lastly, the whole system plugs up to a standard 5.5mm 12v DC wall supply. Everything is low voltage DC so even if Charlie does manage to get in somewhere and chew something up, the only result will be me shaking my head at him and having to rethink how to better bird proof it.
6. Lastly, here they are in their new home. They took to it immediately and settled in for the night. They look MUCH more comfy now. I see them stretch inside with ease now and no more tail feathers to the face or squished Charlie.
Last thoughts... I am now VERY satisfied with the new mechanical mounting solution. 3/8" was the correct bolt choice. It gives the right amount of rigidity. I am still not crazy about the wiring yet. Very happy with the quick DC connect to allow for removal of the top of the cage, but I am not happy yet with the underside wiring and the DC quick connect to the coconut. I still feel this can be done better or in such a way as to prevent hanging wires entirely. I may revisit this. The good news is I finally have a good mechanical solution that allows me to easily come back and replace the wiring. The previous job just had to be completely thrown out. At the end of the day, I am just being OCD. This works great and will probably stick around for awhile. Hope you enjoyed or got inspired to build something yourself!
Cheers!
Oh I almost forgot, in case you were wondering about the LED schematic, I used three LEDs in series with a 300 ohm 1/4W resistor. Ideally should be using a 150 ohm 1/4W resistor, but I opted to double the value to prolong the life of the LEDs. Here are the ideal specs though:
Source
12v DC
2A
LED
3v forward voltage
5v reverse voltage
20mA current
Schematic
Again assuming correct 150 ohm resistor:
1. I actually ended up using two coconuts. The first attempt didn't work out well so I ended up changing the design. The second version called for using both of the cutout disks seen below to sandwich the top of the coconut. This helped distribute the load preventing cracking (The shell gets very thin near the eyes of the coconut). Here I have the three LED holes and a square cut hole for the 3/8" stainless steel carriage bolt.
2. Here I have the LEDs pressed in. Its essentially a "snug" slip fit so I can remove and replace LEDs in the future if needed. The carriage bolt fits in from the bottom and also importantly acts as the ground for the lighting system. I wanted to minimize the number of wires exposed to Charlie as he is quite the trouble maker! All the wiring is hidden on the back side of the disk which is ultimately sandwiched up inside the top of the coconut.
3. Here you can see the essentially completed coconut. Only the single positive wire protrudes out the back of the coconut from under the top cut out. Again, I tried to minimize the number of wires exposed to the chicken nuggets. This also makes wiring a lot cleaner, easier to manage, and robust.
4. The coconut then securely bolts to the top of the cage with a wingnut. Again, all stainless steel hardware so I don't have to worry about corrosion or health concerns for the birbs. There is an SPST switch that bolts to the cage behind the coconut and a short DC electrical jack so everything can be quickly disconnected and the top of the cage can be removed. There is also a quick disconnect for the positive wire going to the coconut so it can be disconnected from the switch for cleaning without having to unbolt the switch too.
5. Lastly, the whole system plugs up to a standard 5.5mm 12v DC wall supply. Everything is low voltage DC so even if Charlie does manage to get in somewhere and chew something up, the only result will be me shaking my head at him and having to rethink how to better bird proof it.
6. Lastly, here they are in their new home. They took to it immediately and settled in for the night. They look MUCH more comfy now. I see them stretch inside with ease now and no more tail feathers to the face or squished Charlie.
Last thoughts... I am now VERY satisfied with the new mechanical mounting solution. 3/8" was the correct bolt choice. It gives the right amount of rigidity. I am still not crazy about the wiring yet. Very happy with the quick DC connect to allow for removal of the top of the cage, but I am not happy yet with the underside wiring and the DC quick connect to the coconut. I still feel this can be done better or in such a way as to prevent hanging wires entirely. I may revisit this. The good news is I finally have a good mechanical solution that allows me to easily come back and replace the wiring. The previous job just had to be completely thrown out. At the end of the day, I am just being OCD. This works great and will probably stick around for awhile. Hope you enjoyed or got inspired to build something yourself!
Cheers!
Oh I almost forgot, in case you were wondering about the LED schematic, I used three LEDs in series with a 300 ohm 1/4W resistor. Ideally should be using a 150 ohm 1/4W resistor, but I opted to double the value to prolong the life of the LEDs. Here are the ideal specs though:
Source
12v DC
2A
LED
3v forward voltage
5v reverse voltage
20mA current
Schematic
Again assuming correct 150 ohm resistor:
- Resistor dissipates 60 mW
- Together, the diodes dissipate 180 mW
- Total power dissipated by the array is 240 mW
Last edited: