Well, dh is NOT an animal lover, unfortunately that includes chickens. But he has been nice and made a big "cage" for me to put them in the garage and is getting ready to start on their coop. Because he lives and breathes technology he has also rigged up a webcam on our chicken cage so we can watch them on our tv in the house! Let me tell you what a relief it is to be able to watch them and see that they are fine without having to go all the way to the garage. We are going to try to stream it on the internet b/c his coworkers who all live in the city are dying to see it. They are so funny! Right now I am watching them try to catch a little bug flying around the light!
Neat idea-kudos! I have heard of setting up a baby monitor to hear them, but the camera is a great idea-love to see it if you get it online
We're talking about doing the same thing. I was going to pick up a webcam on my way home. I want to be able to watch them while I am at work. Any suggestions on how do you stream it on the internet?
www.flyingskunk.com had a streaming chicken cam. I spent lots of time watching it before my chicks arived. 30 chickens and two goats. The person who runs it might be able to help you. There are also links to other chicken cams, but I think hers is the best.
Quote:Any chance he could write down how he did it and you can post it here? I want to setup a cam in our coop/run so I can watch them on my computer, not streaming online or anything, just while I'm on my computer. I've surfed the net for weeks now trying to find out how without success!!!!
We did this when the chicks went out to the coop. Hubby even set it up to overexpose the shot so we could see them by the light of the brooder lamp at night! My family got so annoyed when we stopped streaming it on the 'net. I'd get e-mails from my mother with subject line "Do you know where your chicks are?" if they strayed out of view! LOL!
I'm curious on what camera may be the best for putting outdoors in the coop. My husband is open to the idea, but doesn't want to spend money on something that may fall apart due to the elements. I'd like to have one or two in the coop and maybe a couple in the yard. I'd be interested to put it online. I know there's a lady who has www.hencam.com I'd emailed her about her setup, but she never responded. I'd need something that could be run from outside to my computer. I have no idea how to do that!
Axis (www.axis.com) makes network cameras that connect to your wireless network. They are easy to set up, although admittedly, I'm pretty "techy." I currently use an Axis 207W to watch and check in on my babies from work. The 207W is an indoor camera, so maybe one day I'll buy an outdoor camera to put in the coop when they're older. But for now it makes me feel much better that I can check in on them at any time from my office. Hope this helps.
Gosh... we just used a really old webcam we had laying around the house. I wish I could find it and tell you what it was. It was inside the coop (with a laptop attached that had a wireless network card). We didn't really worry about it. I'm typing on the laptop now--so clearly the dust didn't do it in! But the webcam was just a cheap (and really old) thing. Looks like a Magic 8-ball game.