What automatic stuff and electronic stuff do you have inside your coop? Here's what I have in mine..

[jimmywalt]

I thought this would be a fun topic -

So what automatic stuff and electronic stuff do you have inside your coop? I think mine is quite the penthouse, but I'm always looking for new ideas to spruce it up a bit.

I have a 5 gallon automatic/heated waterer, a 5 gallon "automatic" bucket feeder, and a automatic door made with a $5 car radio antenna from a junk yard.

For electronics I have 2 wifi cameras (one pointed at the nest boxes and the other at the perch for night time viewing), and also a wifi thermometer (to know the temp inside the coop).

In my signature line you can see links on how I made my heated waterer, bucket feeder and automatic door.

Here are a couple pictures from my wifi camera. The pictures of the hens on the roost is from about 5 minutes ago and it's currently 29 degrees in the coop right now.





So what stuff do you have in your coop??????

 

[Angiebubs]

Hmmmm I also have the wireless cameras-however its intermittent reception due to the cement barn walls. The rest is manual :-(

 

[gilcamp4]

what heated water do you have? we got a elec. dog bowl but there is always water gone from it, also what camra, I would love to do that but we are on a fixed income, we used a camper for a coop, took everything out of it but the elec.

 

[jimmywalt]

Here are some links for you to some of my stuff

Make an automatic coop door for only $5 bucks. Check out this link:
http://goo.gl/C1rmZd

Very easy to make heated waterer for winter:
http://goo.gl/j50hYW

Make your own no waste 5 gallon bucket feeder for only $3 bucks.
http://goo.gl/V8RJLL

The camera is a Dlink DSC-932L picked up at Staples.com

 

[JanetS]

gilcamp4---Love the trailer as a coop!!! Do you have more pictures of the inside?

 

[gilcamp4]

gilcamp4---Love the trailer as a coop!!! Do you have more pictures of the inside?

here is inside the picture to the left is a wall we put up when we have peeps, we had to sets going, one was up top where the table is in the back we have a roost like the one you can see but bigger on the other end, the bottom picture is with mommy and 13 babies she was a good mom, we had eggs in house that hatched the same time hers hatched so we put them under her, you can see right near the white chick is a door that goes out to the small above yard in picture at the top of this. we are now waiting for them to all lay, we got 15 sex links from mcmurry's all females, they are now starting to lay the peeps in picture are due the end of this mth, if all lay we would get 29 eggs a day as we have 29 hens 2 roosters.

 

[eggsellentfarms]

Has anyone messed around with adruino or raspberry pi electronics? I'm thinking about trying to automate my whole coop and be able to control it form anywhere with my computer or phone. I don't have any experience with this, but it seems like something I could with with a little trial and error.
Anyway I'd like to control, coop door, feeder, waterer, lights, and possibly be able to monitor other stuff, like temp or humidity. I also want coop cams, but the simplest route for those might just be wifi cameras and not integrated with the other stuff.
So if anyone has any suggestions on this I'd love to hear them. And if I get this up and running I'll post some details.

 

[bellehumeur]

I have the coop automated with a raspberry pi. I'm using fhem to control everything (fhem.de). I'm using the same software to control the house. It has a nice web interface and plotting utilities and it's open-source perl.
So far I have the door, lights and two waterer temperature automated.
I'm using plastic toilet tanks with nipples for the waterers. They have built-in float valves, mounting hardware, are insulated and are designed to hold water. I'm really happy with those.
Coop temperature is monitored and the water level in each waterer as well.
Water level is monitored with a cheap ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04) on top of the toilet tanks.
One one them died already so if anyone is doing the same, I would like to know if they have found a more reliable level sensor.
Now I'm working on monitoring noise with a USB microphone.
I hooked up speakers and play a 'hawk' sound when they make too much noise but that is not stopping the 'egg song' :-(
I wait until spring and try spraying/misting water in the run when they make a racket. That will at least force them inside the coop.
Other things I plan to try is a 'poop rain gutter' that would be flushed automatically a few times a night.
Also, feeder weight would be nice to keep track of food usage.

So far I'm quite happy with the system and we can go for 10 days vacation without worrying about the coop.

 

[eggsellentfarms]

I have the coop automated with a raspberry pi. I'm using fhem to control everything (fhem.de). I'm using the same software to control the house. It has a nice web interface and plotting utilities and it's open-source perl.
So far I have the door, lights and two waterer temperature automated.
I'm using plastic toilet tanks with nipples for the waterers. They have built-in float valves, mounting hardware, are insulated and are designed to hold water. I'm really happy with those.
Coop temperature is monitored and the water level in each waterer as well.
Water level is monitored with a cheap ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04) on top of the toilet tanks.
One one them died already so if anyone is doing the same, I would like to know if they have found a more reliable level sensor.
Now I'm working on monitoring noise with a USB microphone.
I hooked up speakers and play a 'hawk' sound when they make too much noise but that is not stopping the 'egg song' :-(
I wait until spring and try spraying/misting water in the run when they make a racket. That will at least force them inside the coop.
Other things I plan to try is a 'poop rain gutter' that would be flushed automatically a few times a night.
Also, feeder weight would be nice to keep track of food usage.

So far I'm quite happy with the system and we can go for 10 days vacation without worrying about the coop.

That's awesome! I've got a friend who has a raspberry pi, so I'm going to have him show me some of the basics so I can figure out what I need to get. Do you have a camera in the coop? I noticed some have 2 way audio. I was going to get a Foscam, until I read about a recent manufacturing defect debacle that they have not apparently fully fixed.

 

[Hokum Coco]

When it comes to technology; I am still amazed with the flush toilet.