Details

For a bit of fun and because we can, back in 2013, my children and I decided to build a fully autonomous Chicken House Controller, this is to control our Monmouth Major hen-house that can support around 20 hens. It sits on a custom perspex lined base which gives some extra shelter and the all-important dry dust-bath area. Its purpose is to keep the hens safe by automating common activities such as letting them in and out at the right times and to inspire the children to do learn about problem solving and gain experience in areas such as woodwork, mechanical, electromechanical, electronics and computing. 

This web site details the journey we have been on, from its humble beginning, up to what it has evolved into today - over a decade later. 

The project has not had continious development, it has had times when its under active development and other times when its just sitting there, doing its job, hence why the web site has been quiet for a number of years.

During the summer of 2022, it became apparent that the existing electronics needed to be refreshed,having provided 9 years of service. This allowed a re-imagination of the system to be undertaken, upgrades to be made and the long deferred work of building proper PCB's and enhancing the platforms capabilities.

The 2013-2015 period covers the initial version 1 platform in its prototype form.

2022 to present shows the revised version 2 platform and ongoing development.

If you want to read about the construction and problems along the way, take a look at our blog. Use the "previous" button at the bottom of each article to go the next article -- don't you just love reverse date ordered lists :-/

Details

Why do I do this ?

For several reasons really

  • Because I can
  • Because it interests me
    You learn lots of new things, even solutions to problems you didn't know existed.
  • Its not the same as the day job, so its quite relaxing
  • It's better than watching TV
  • I can get more sleep as I don't have to worry about the girls
  • There are less arguments about who's turn it is to let the girls out or put them to bed.
  • You get fresh eggs

Why are you publishing all this information

I've spent many an hour on-line researching things and learning from others and this has allowed me to reach where we are today. I hope that the information presented here is of use to someone, because if it is, then I've given something back to the community.

What have you learned doing this project

The most important thing is that it will always take a lot longer than you expect to get what you want done and that the trivially simple 5 minute job will open into a can of worms and take you to a completely unexpected place. Also, some of the complicated things are far easier than expected.

Did the children learn about electronics and computers

Well, the answer is yes and no.

They are partially involved, much in the same way that someone is involved in a complicated jigsaw, they drop in and drop out when they want to and are more interested in the "interesting bits", but being teenagers, their interests change too.

Conversely, there have been some interesting discussions about issues, fixes and ideas, which is what I wanted.

What was the scope creep ?

Yes, lots of it

  • BedTimeLight mode was fun, turning on and off the inside light to help the girls roost, they really like this.
    We've gone from one or two early roosters getting up onto the bar to more than 90% going up there. The last 10% are pecked off and have to sleep below - such is the chicken hierarchy, however when the next batch of chickens turn up, then the sleeping positions will change again

Whats next ?

Well, there's plenty still to do, tasks include :

  • Get the project to a point where it meets all the initial design requirements, currently the door servos are not installed, which was supposed to make it easier to collect the eggs
  • There is currently no web interface which will allow us to control the unit and see whats going on inside the house
  • I need to get those PCB's designed and built
  • I need to fix the SPI programming issue

On the fun to do list is

  • RFID's on the chickens to monitor who's in and out, who's staying in the laying area or who has not come home to roost tonight, since this tells you a hen is unwell or hurt.
  • Siri integration - for the HEN9000 pop hole door thing ...

How much and how long ?

The simple answer is just "far too much" on both counts. However this must be balanced against whats been gained, which is an easier life, a lot of fun and a a lot of learning.

What about bugs ?

There are no bugs (of the software kind), just a collection of un-documented features that will not be appearing in future releases

As for living bugs, its a chicken coop, there are bugs, but only until a Chicken sees it move, at which point it turns into a tasty light snack

Is it worth it ?

Yes, for the reasons listed above.

Details

For a bit of fun and because we can, my children and I are currently building a fully autonomous Chicken House Controller.

The system is build around our Monmouth Major 14-18 hen hen-house and custom perspex lined base which gives some extra shelter and the all-important dry dust-bath area. The system is powered by an Arduino Mega 2560 and a Raspberry Pi model A and some custom electronics, it has the following features :

Power and environment

  • Nuclear powered (OK, indirectly via a solar panel from the Sun, but the fact still stands!).
  • Sufficient power to run the system for 5 days - for example in winter when the solar panel may be covered in snow.
  • Waterproof and weather proof for year-long automatic use.
  • Ability to automatically power up and down USB devices such as the Wi-Fi link to the house, the serial interface on the Arduino and the Webcam - to save some power when not in use.
  • Ability to detect low battery and alert via e-mail
  • Ability to detect lack of solar charge when charge is expected during the day.
  • Power reduction technologies that conserve the energy.

Automated and manual actions

  • Full Real-Time Clock, accessible by both the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino.
  • Automatic pop-hole door opening at sun-up, (but not before 6am) - so we still get a lie-in.
  • Automatic pop-hole door closing at sun-down plus 15 minutes to allow stragglers to find their way home.
  • Automatic pop-hole door locking and unlocking to keep Mr Fox out.
  • Automatic door opening and re-locking for the two nesting boxes, so that we can collect the eggs more easily.
  • Automatic door opening and re-locking for the main human door.
  • Web interface to control the system from the house.
  • Auto-off ChickenCam - A pan and tilt webcam that we can control via the web interface.
  • Auto-off, dimmable back-light and bedtime light (mounted on the webcam), so the chickens can see the roosting bars and we can look at them.
  • Auto-off RatLights - Two infra-red Rat Lights (under the nesting boxes) so that we can see the rats that come to feast in the evening and have a pop at them to reduce diseases and food consumption.

Data Logging

  • Full Data logging of system state every 15 seconds (temperature, current consumption, energy harvested, current error state).
  • Full Event log to help identify and resolve problems.
  • Temperature sensing inside the chicken coop, external temperature and the charge control unit temperature.
  • Voltage and Current sensing on the Solar panel and the batteries.
  • Ability to graph any of the above over a week, month or year.

Management

  • Automatic monitoring for error conditions such as door open, charge over temperature; freezing conditions; loss of solar energy (monitored during the day only).
  • Status box and user interface on the front that shows the systems health on an RGB LED giving at-a-glance system status.
  • Full local user interface on the box in the chicken coop - to test sensors and check current state.
  • Full remote web interface to monitor live state of any part of the system and to control the components such as the lights, webcam - the only exception is the doors, which must be accessed locally to prevent accidental opening.
  • Remote reset of the Arduino from the Pi.
  • Automatic reset of the Pi from the Arduino.
  • Watchdog timer to ensure Arduino availability.

Upgradability and diagnostics

  • Remote Raspberry Pi upgrade and management.
  • Remote Arduino firmware upgrade - from the Arduino IDE in my main PC to the Raspberry Pi and into the Arduino over SPI.
  • Remote Arduino Serial monitor from the house (via the Raspberry Pi).

Possible Add-ons

  • RFID's on the Chickens to see who's laying and who's not; when and long they take to lay.
  • Fox Alert during the night - using a Passive Infra-Red sensor (PIR).
  • Automatic water refilling.

If you want to read about the construction and problems along the way, take a look at our blog. Use the "previous" button at the bottom of each article to go the next article -- don't you just love reverse date ordered lists :-/