Projects Complete!

Just finalized all of my projects! I finished securing all of the wiring using zip ties for all four wifi cams and LED bulbs. I have one LED bulb that is plugged into my WiFi plug so it can be turned on and off using the app on my phone! That LED bulb is in the hen condo. The other four LED bulbs are solar powered and plug into the charging station, which the solar panel also plugs into in order to charge the charging station. The station also has an extra USB port for charging a phone, for example. I had one of these solar LED bulbs in the hen condo. But since I added the electrically powered LED bulb there, I moved the solar powered LED light outside the hen condo by the main door. If I need to clean the hen condo in the dark for any reason or do something else in that area, I will have good lighting available to me!

Also, I had purchased a 150 watt ceramic bulb for the heat lamp, to replace the traditional red heat lamp bulb because I realized one night, when it got below 32 degrees and the heat lamp turned on, it woke up all of my hens! They were up and about in the run before 1 am and stayed up the rest of the night! The red heat lamp bulb provided enough lighting out into the run area too! However, I found that the 150 watt ceramic bulb failed to provide adequate heat, so I purchased a 250 watt ceramic bulb and replaced the 150 watt ceramic bulb with the new one! The red heat lamp bulb was 250 watts too, which worked great! Hoping this works as well! At least the ceramic bulbs don’t throw any light. Just heat. It stays black in color when it heats up too! Doesn’t turn red, like an electric stove burner. 

Just some photos of the completed projects!

WiFi Cam, formerly inside the hen condo, now mounted to the feeding station for a view of the middle area of the run and beyond!

View I get from this WiFi cam!

And a photo of this WiFi cam, plus another WiFi cam mounted to the outside of the hen condo for a view of the area by the gate, water and feeding station! 

And the view I get with the WiFi cam mounted on the hen condo! 

The third WiFi cam is mounted to the opposite side of the hen condo!

And the view I get with this WiFi cam! 

And the fourth WiFi cam, a different brand and type; a pan tilt WiFi cam, inside the hen condo! 

And the view I get with this WiFi pan tilt cam! 

And a video of the pan tilt feature! 

The WiFi pan tilt cam also has two-way sound, unlike the other three WiFi cams, so I can hear my gals when they get noisy, as in this video! LOL! Turn up your volume enough to hear it! So it not only captures sounds inside the hen condo, it captures sounds throughout the run as well, as in this case! 

The LED electric powered light in the hen condo can be operated from my phone app, since it’s plugged into the WiFi 4-outlet extender! Each outlet operates independently from one another using the phone app! 

And this is what the device and app look like! 

And this is the phone app where I can control each outlet separately, or all four at once. I can also set timers for each outlet separately, or for all four outlets together! 

I have the WiFi cam that is mounted to the feeding station plugged into outlet number four, so I leave this one on at all times. Number three is for the LED bulb in the hen condo. 

And numbers one and two are for my main LED lights that I power on from 4 am to 8 am during the winter months, so my gals can enjoy a longer day when the days are short! 

Extending their daylight each day tremendously helps with egg production too! I have fourteen hens and they gave me eleven beautiful eggs today! That’s great for mid December for sure! Yummy!

And my four solar LED bulbs! 

Out near the gate: 

In the chicken house: 

Near the main entrance to the hen condo: 

And in the feeding station area:

The charging station that all four solar LED bulbs are plugged into, and the solar panel that charges the charging station! 

And last but not least, the new 250 watt ceramic bulb in the heat lamp so my gals won’t be up running around in the middle of the night! LOL!

Before, with the standard red heat lamp bulb: 

And the new ceramic bulb that does not throw any light! 

I also have a device that the heat lamp is plugged into that will turn it on and off based on the temperature inside the hen condo. It has a temperature probe that extends inside the hen condo. I have it set to turn on the heat lamp when the temperature inside the hen condo drops down to 31 degrees or less. And the heat lamp will remain on until the temperature reaches 38 degrees inside the hen condo! 

This is the device! 

And, as an additional safeguard, I also have a WiFi thermometer for the hen condo so I can monitor the temperature from my phone app! It will notify me/alarm me when the temperature inside the hen condo drops below a set temperature or rises above a set temperature! I have the low temperature alarm set at 20 degrees and the high temperature alarm set to 70 degrees. I had it set to 50 degrees but we recently have had a few days where the temperature outdoors exceeded 50 degrees and the alarm kept going off! When we get into frigid temperatures, and when the heat lamp is running most of the time, I will change the upper parameter of the notification/alarm back to 50 degrees for improved safety while the heat lamp is running. 

The temperature sensor (the little white thing mounted to the post):

And the phone app that it communicates with via WiFi! 

So, all of my luxury enhancements have now been completed! Of note, I also have individual motion-sensor solar LED lights mounted around the circumference of the run! I have three on the front, two on each side, and one in the back. Anytime I approach the run, the lights come on! It’s great to have that lighting! Especially in the winter months when the days are short, and I often have to do chores in the dark, such as grabbing the eggs at the end of the day! And if a predator was to approach, the lights that detect motion will turn on and scare it away (hopefully)! My neighbors all around me have lost some or all of their flocks of chickens and ducks to predators over the years. I haven’t lost any of my flock to predators over the years! Although my run is far more secure and predator-proofed, I’m sure these motion-sensor LED lights help! 

I have a total of 8 of these! 

Pretty lights!

I also have six of these around the run. They are solar powered and each one has two red LED lights that flash all night once it gets dark! I think maybe these have helped reduce issues with predators as well. Not positive, though, since I have multiple measures in place for predator prevention! 

Well, that’s all for now, folks!!! See my previous blogs for other special enhancements and projects that I have worked on in the past for my gals! I truly love projects like this! And I always get bummed out when I can’t come up with any new projects to work on, LOL!!