Anyone tried a baby monitor or something like it?

[Lisa Wood]

So here is my question. My coop is close enough to the house, I can watch chicks from 3 windows day and night. At night, additionally, I crack a window so dogs/myself can hear any scuffling going on. My loaded gun tucked between mattress and frame of bed. One more place on coop to add hardware cloth, and that is secure except snakes/rats. I keep reading to keep food contained to keep from drawing mice/rats, but I have no earthly idea how, as they have been eating out of pans and feeder, and they liberally throw food around. My bad.

Has anyone tried a baby monitor, or some sort of radio you can listen to from the house? So the instant you hear a cluck, you can go running?
I am just freaking hearing these stories about racoons pulling chicks apart.

Our run is covered with canopy, and then covered with poultry netting. Helps with hawks. I am sure will not keep land predators out.
Lisa

 

[PingoBags]

What about a cheap wireless camera that comes with a receiver screen. I don't have anything setup but I do own one of those cameras.
It has an audio sound when it detects movement and normal audio so you could hear the chickens.

If you hear something, just look at the screen from the house before running off into the dark. These cameras have night vision too.

Since my coop has no power run to it and I don't really plan on running power, it's not an option for me. I do however own an IP camera that is powered off the same ethernet cable that is used to view the video, I also own 1000 yards of ethernet cable for making cables. The camera has no audio though. On a plus side, it has better night vision, better motion detection and can be viewed from my phone, anywhere in the world.

For waste food, I plan on making something like this I seen on YT

Simple cheap design. I'm gonna attach it to the side of my coop. The birds can eat from inside the coop and I can fill it up from the outside.
The raccoon won't beable to steal all the feed and it won't take up space in my small coop since it's on the outside. If I built the coop from scratch, it wouldn't be an issue but I converted a dog house a made last year, so I'm limited to space.

 

[PingoBags]

What about a cheap wireless camera that comes with a receiver screen. I don't have anything setup but I do own one of those cameras. It has an audio sound when it detects movement and normal audio so you could hear the chickens.

If you hear something, just look at the screen from the house before running off into the dark. These cameras have night vision too.

Since my coop has no power run to it and I don't really plan on running power, it's not an option for me.
I do however own an IP camera that is powered off the same ethernet cable that is used to view the video, I also own 1000 yards of ethernet cable for making cables. The camera has no audio though. On a plus side, it has better night vision, better motion detection and can be viewed from my phone, anywhere in the world.

For waste food, I plan on making something like this I seen on YT

Simple cheap design. I'm gonna attach it to the side of my coop.
The birds can eat from inside the coop and I can fill it up from the outside. The raccoon won't beable to steal all the feed and it won't take up space in my small coop since it's on the outside. If I built the coop from scratch, it wouldn't be an issue but I converted a dog house a made last year, so I'm limited to space.

 

[PingoBags]

What about a cheap wireless camera that comes with a receiver screen. I don't have anything setup but I do own one of those cameras.
It has an audio sound when it detects movement and normal audio so you could hear the chickens.

If you hear something, just look at the screen from the house before running off into the dark. These cameras have night vision too.

Since my coop has no power run to it and I don't really plan on running power, it's not an option for me. I do however own an IP camera that is powered off the same ethernet cable that is used to view the video, I also own 1000 yards of ethernet cable for making cables. The camera has no audio though. On a plus side, it has better night vision, better motion detection and can be viewed from my phone, anywhere in the world.

For waste food, I plan on making something like this I seen on YT
watch?v=Tn4meCzlGqQ

Simple cheap design. I'm gonna attach it to the side of my coop. The birds can eat from inside the coop and I can fill it up from the outside.
The raccoon won't beable to steal all the feed and it won't take up space in my small coop since it's on the outside. If I built the coop from scratch, it wouldn't be an issue but I converted a dog house a made last year, so I'm limited to space.

 

[centrarchid]

I have used baby monitors. Dog will respond to it amplifying signal to you. Protection will not be realized if raccoon visits while you are not home which can and does happen. You also will not be able to hear much during heavy rain events.


In the end, for me, setting up a poultry netting perimeter has been more cost effective. This especially the case if you plan on staying in chickens for more than a couple of years.