Raspberry coop

[veedabowlu]

Hello

I'm trying to set up a second chicken coop... have been messing with raspberry pi's a little lately... first started at just a retro game machine...(retropi)3B+...set up a second pi, zero as a network ad blocker... works ok, but I definitely like tinkering with pi (novice here)

OK, back to the coop... I was thinking about using another pi zero (WH) this time as soldering the header sucks... plan to control the pi over wifi via SSH......anyway, little hard to get power to the coop, so I was thinking of
1) small battery (night)/solar power (day)
2) coop door, I built a sliding door need suggestions to open door. I was thinking either a motor/cable/string setup to run motor one way opening door... run motor other direction close door, OR a gear screw like on a small cnc machine...same thing, one way open, other way close...
3) RPi cam, hopefully 2, one in run one on coop
4) speakers, they say playing music to the girls produces more eggs... worth a try.

A) I was thinking of needing this DC to DC regulator, and maybe this solar panel.. still need to figure out a battery.
B) still figuring out door... looking for your input
C) have 1 RPi knock off camera...I will have to get different video cable if I use it with a pi zero... trying to figure out how to run second camera from same pi... suggestions/possible?
D) I was thinking along the lines of these options... or even better this as it includes the pi zero... guess I will have to solder another header, if I go this route...

I'm completely open to your suggestions.... I think the pi zero would suffice, cost, etc... but again, I'm open to your suggestions/opinions.

 

[veedabowlu]

I repurposed an "Igloo" doghouse for the coop...the coop stand is pallet planks on pallet built 2 x 4 frame... the run frame was a riding lawn mower crate I got for free... All in so far I have about $100 into it. Pre RPi of course..

Space above the run is going to be a garden for chicken food...

Shower liner to waterproof the garden floor/run roof

And the door I want to control via RPi

The PVC pipe is the garden drain... so when watering "garden" chicks stay dry..the pipe drains outside of the run. (pictures were before I closed the space around the door)

and the Girls enjoying the run when then they decided to "strike a pose"

 

[veedabowlu]

The hardest part was building the Cupula from scratch, using recycled privacy fence boards... It serves its function well venting the coop as it covers a large hole cut in dome (hot air rises)

Lots of head scratching going on during the build...

 

[jthornton]

@veedabowlu this is how ping someone or call them to your thread.

JT

 

[Tonyroo]

How are you going to collect the eggs once they lay in there or clean it? All I can say is it's different.

 

[veedabowlu]

I cut out a door, opposite the sliding door...

built small aluminum door "frame" inside the cut out making the cut out "hole" smaller...since it is a round roof and water runs down...a weatherstrip gasket sits inside on the door "frame" keeping the water/rain running down inside door.

the bottom of the door on the outside has an aluminum strip to 1) keep door curved 2) strengthen door... on the inside of the door are aluminum guides (finger like) to aid in closing the door (You can also see the roof "vent" cut out in this picture)

(Side note the oscillating/multi tool, on the ground IS the greatest thing since sliced bread)

 

[jthornton]

Not much time to read during the workday but here is my favorite door post.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-diy-automatic-chicken-door.1295391/

JT

 

[BleuSaphir]

Pretty resourceful there!

 

[jthornton]

Hard to tell the size but it looks pretty small inside the dog house. What are you doing for a roost in there?

plan to control the pi over wifi via SSH.

You mentioned SSH in your PM to me, not sure how you can directly control an I/O over SSH. You can run a program easy enough via SSH but I'm not sure why you would want to do that. If your Rpi is connected to the internet then you can update the astral tables each new day and open/close the door based on the sun. The first hurdle is to get a working door.

The Rpi only supports one camera via the camera header. You could use a USB camera as well. I use POE cameras as it's easy enough to run some CAT6 cable across the ground. I find the POE cameras to have a much better photo quality. I've used all sorts of Rpi cameras and have a USB camera in my Rhode Island Red's nest box egg collection section so I can see when an egg arrives.

they say playing music to the girls produces more eggs... worth a try.

Never heard that before, but perhaps it can be beneficial to the chicken tender to sooth them. I do play music on my Rpi 3b in the Cinnamon Queens coop and run. I use Logitech S150 USB speakers to play music for me and my pullets but mostly for me. I program in Python mostly and use PyQt5 but I'm thinking of reverting back to Tk as it is native Python and they have improved it quite a bit. I use Gst as my audio player

import gi
gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
from gi.repository import Gst

# Audio Player
Gst.init(None)
self.player = Gst.ElementFactory.make("playbin", "player")
self.player.connect('about-to-finish', self.on_about_to_finish)
self.musicList = []
bus = self.player.get_bus()
bus.add_signal_watch()
bus.connect("message", self.on_message)

def playMusic(self):
    self.musicList = os.listdir('/home/john/music')
    random.shuffle(self.musicList)
    filepath = os.path.join("/home/john/music", self.musicList.pop(0))
    self.player.set_property("uri", "file://" + filepath)
    self.player.set_state(Gst.State.PLAYING)
    filename = os.path.basename(filepath)
    (f, e) = os.path.splitext(filename)
    self.statusBar().showMessage(f"First Song {f}")
    cv = self.player.get_property('volume')
    self.volumeLbl.setText(f"Volume {cv}")

def stopMusic(self):
    self.player.set_state(Gst.State.NULL)
    self.statusBar().showMessage("Music Stopped")

def on_message(self, bus, message):
    t = message.type
    if t == Gst.MessageType.EOS:
        self.player.set_state(Gst.State.NULL)
        self.statusBar().showMessage('Done')
    if t == Gst.MessageType.ERROR:
        err, dbg = msg.parse_error()
        print("ERROR:", msg.src.get_name(), ":", err.message)
        self.qstMessage.setText(f"{msg.src.get_name()}\n{err.message}")

def raiseVolume(self):
    cv = self.player.get_property('volume')
    nv = round(cv + 0.05, 2)
    self.volumeLbl.setText(f"Volume {nv}")
    if nv > 1.0:
        nv = 1.0
    self.player.set_property('volume', nv)

def lowerVolume(self):
    cv = self.player.get_property('volume')
    nv = round(cv - 0.05, 2)
    self.volumeLbl.setText(f"Volume {nv}")
    if nv < 0.0:
        nv = 0.0
    self.player.set_property('volume', nv)

def muteVolume(self):
    if self.player.get_property('mute') == False:
        self.player.set_property('mute', True)
        self.muteBtn.setText('Muted')
    else:
        self.player.set_property('mute', False)
        self.muteBtn.setText('Mute')
    print(f"Volume {self.player.get_property('volume')}")

JT

 

[veedabowlu]

The Igloo floor is 40" round, the dome is 38" tall...plenty of room for two. I do have two "roost" bars in there...

Raspberry PI'S GPIO control

Yes, still working on door control ideas... was also thinking of POE power... not sure it it would be enough "power" to run a motor,etc. I do prefer a gear screw drive like on a small CNC machine.
I do have WIFI at house, plan to install POE house security cameras, already have them... have not yet build house network..only so many hours in a day... If I ran a network cable out to the coop it would have to be buried.

I do not know of any POE hats for the Pi zero...is there one? or am I needing another Pi flavor to run a door, two cameras, speakers...

I do agree the RPi cameras are not the greatest, but I already have one so I figure to put it to some use... the second camera via USB sounds like good idea...

Chicken music..." Laying hens who are exposed to music lay comparatively more eggs than their non-music listening counterparts"
There are more studies out there supporting it...

Again this is a working rough draft of the RPi stuff... very open to suggestions...