Monitoring your flock with a camera

[Fricasee]

Good morning,
Sometime yesterday afternoon something breached my electric perimeter fence in an attempt to get to my flock. Our dog challenged whatever it was and defended the flock successfully. All the chickens survived. The dog has a torn ear, and the fence was damaged.

I do not know what it was but my guess is dog or coyote.

I'm ready to get a camera so when things like this transpire I can review and know. The not knowing where the threats are coming from are driving me nuts.

I would like to get input re: what do you use successfully to monitor your flocks? I have a couple requirements, that the system is wireless, weatherproof, is able to be monitored remotely via WiFi but also records automatically when movement is detected (can movement be set to something bigger than a chicken? - such as a person, or dog, or coyote, etc) I would like video to be stored on something other than a card, such as in a cloud, even if I have to pay for that storage that's fine) Anyway, any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I’m also looking into getting a video camera to monitor my flock.

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

I am also, so following this thread. I found opossum tracks INSIDE my locked run this morning. We have snow here right now, so I was able to track it back & know where it lives. Guarentee it won't be back! I just can't figure out how it got in! The run is completely enclosed, but there must be a gap in the wire on top somewhere. *sigh* I have some work to do today. Curious to see what people reccomend.

Edited- Curious about cameras, not my possum issue!

 

[Howard E]

A game camera sounds like a good idea, but in the meantime, I'm curious about your electric fence. How do you have it setup?

As in fence charger, and fencing pattern/materials? Any idea as to the voltage it is packing? Ideally, anything that tangles with your fence is going to head for the exit and pronto. No breaches allowed!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

They make outdoor cameras for hunters. Google hunt camera or at walmart.com.. you will need a quality night vision version.

 

[Creteloc]

A good trail camera is going to work perfectly. They are motion sensitive and made to be out in the weather. They also have night vision. Tractor Supply has some in stock and Amazon has a good selection also.

 

[Trish1974]

Check out Lorex Technology: https://www.lorextechnology.com
I have a Flir 2 camera system by them which is wireless as far as audio/video signal, but the camera still has to be powered via an outlet. A true wireless camera system (battery operated cameras) are very expensive and battery life in cold weather is not good. You can buy cord extenders for long reaches. They usually come with a DVR for viewing and video storage, and some can be uploaded to the cloud. I was lucky to get mine on sale for $299. I just bought a 4 camera wireless system (with battery operated cameras) for my office and it was twice as much. As far as the one on my chicken run it has proved to be priceless! Catching a fox pacing my chicken run before he breached it made me glad I had it. Plus "chicken TV" is better than real TV sometimes!

On a side note, do you know how your electric fence was breached? That's rather concerning. I put a lot of faith in mine and now you got me worried!

 

[Fricasee]

A game camera sounds like a good idea, but in the meantime, I'm curious about your electric fence. How do you have it setup?

As in fence charger, and fencing pattern/materials? Any idea as to the voltage it is packing? Ideally, anything that tangles with your fence is going to head for the exit and pronto. No breaches allowed!

Hello Howard I have a four wire fence with 7000 (volts?) It runs around my entire perimeter about two feet outside of my chicken wire enclosure. Whatever it was pulled the electric fence and the chicken wire fence down on one end. It's possible the voltage was affected by a wire touching the ground. I had not checked that super recently before this happened. My boyfriend stood everything back up and mentioned to me that the bottom wire in the back looked like it was touching the ground. So, as soon as I am home during daylight I will tighten everything up and trim vegetation and double check the voltage. I've inadvertently touched that fence half asleep and it turns my hand numb after it throttles me good. All our dogs have met it and nobody wants anything to do with it. Could be neighbor dog or coyote. I just don't know. Need that camera setup.

 

[Fricasee]

Check out Lorex Technology: https://www.lorextechnology.com
I have a Flir 2 camera system by them which is wireless as far as audio/video signal, but the camera still has to be powered via an outlet. A true wireless camera system (battery operated cameras) are very expensive and battery life in cold weather is not good. You can buy cord extenders for long reaches. They usually come with a DVR for viewing and video storage, and some can be uploaded to the cloud. I was lucky to get mine on sale for $299. I just bought a 4 camera wireless system (with battery operated cameras) for my office and it was twice as much. As far as the one on my chicken run it has proved to be priceless! Catching a fox pacing my chicken run before he breached it made me glad I had it. Plus "chicken TV" is better than real TV sometimes!

On a side note, do you know how your electric fence was breached? That's rather concerning. I put a lot of faith in mine and now you got me worried!

Hi Trish,
As far as the fence goes, it's entirely possible it was grounded as I had not walked the perimeter in awhile. Got a little bit complacent there....need to keep the slack tight and all the vegetation away from the system. We got lucky this time with no casualties. I can manage to power the system directly without having to use batteries, so that's good. My chicken yard is very close to the house and would be manageable with an extension cord. I just very much want to be able to tune in and check on everyone when I'm at work, and also have motion activated video stored remotely so I can retrieve in the event of an attack such as yesterday. I think it is valuable to know what I'm dealing with. You're right! I love chicken TV! It's like an aquarium only better! I'll check out your provided links here. Thank you!

 

[Fricasee]

A game camera sounds like a good idea, but in the meantime, I'm curious about your electric fence. How do you have it setup?

As in fence charger, and fencing pattern/materials? Any idea as to the voltage it is packing? Ideally, anything that tangles with your fence is going to head for the exit and pronto. No breaches allowed!

PS - Howard, where in Missouri are you? I was born in Jefferson City!