The world of smart technology is growing in leaps and bounds. It’s not just light switches or thermostats these days. Across my four coops are a number of smart technologies that make less work for me but make my chickens safer too.
Let’s look at what and how I control on my coops.
Hub:
There are quite a few hub platforms in the market to run smart technology with.
Apple, Wink, Wemo and others are available but since 2015, I’ve used Smart Things. I began with the Lowe’s Iris system but it’s failure to work successfully after they went to version two pushed me the the Samsung Smart Things Hub and platform. The hub costs just over $100 and is widely available. There is no monthly fee for using Smart Things and there are a multitude of available products to link and control.
Lights:
I control the lighting in all of my coops with GE outdoor smart switches. These are more rough service and do better inside the coops. Lights are all triggered by sunrise and sunset as listed by the NWS and the times can be adjusted as much as an hour before or after sunrise and sunset. They can also trigger off of time of day or be manually controlled. The larger coop has lights that come on in stages to make the transition from light to dark or vice versa smoother.
Lights are all LED and are of varying wattages and brands. I can add, remove or interchange lights across all of my coops.
Doors:
After years of trial and error, I have found a brand of automated doors I could integrate into my smart environment. Hentronix door controls are made in the UK and are very versatile. I have five automated doors and they are of three different styles.
There are other doors coming on the market but Hentronix can be the ability to control the doors with Smart Things and be able to do it from anywhere.
I am in Southeast Tennessee on the west side of a mountain so my doors open at the posted sunrise time and close at 40 minutes after sunset. I can manually override the times or open a door after it’s closed should an errant hen not go in before the doors close.
The Hentronix doors close slowly so the chickens won’t get stuck in a door. I did lose one hen who tried to run back out as a different door system was closing.
Ventilation:
Each of my coops has at least one exhaust fan and at least one fan circulating air. These are controlled with either GE Outdoor switches or Centra Line switches (in a weather tight box). The fans work turn off and on based on the temperature of either door sensors or dedicated temperature sensors in each coop.
Heat:
Although I am not an advocate of heating coops, I do maintain the ability to quickly add some heat should we have large cold front come through. Now set at 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the GE switches are ready for heaters should zero weather be imminent. The heaters have only been used once in the last two years.
Chick Heaters are controlled by the same switches and sensors. We Run our brooder and new chicks in a room attached to the house.
Door and window sensors:
All doors both for chickens and humans are monitored by SmartThings Multipurpose sensors and they monitor whether a door is open or not. I get a push notification or a text when doors open or close.
These sensors monitor temperature and the difference between the East facing door and the sensor or the shelf can often be 40 degrees different.
These sensors also are part of the formula when doors close. The programming in SmartThings says to close the door at sunset plus forty minutes and if the associated door sensor is open. If I’ve closed the door early then it won’t try to operate the door because it recognizes it is closed.
These sensors also notify me of different temperatures both cold and hot.
Cameras:
I have 16 cameras with two terabytes of storage monitoring both coops and runs. The Ohwoai camera system provides solid performance and an ability to see what currently happening with my coops. No matter how many cameras you have, you can always find a blind spot.
Cameras can be fun as it allows you to see your chickens anytime you like.
My camera system is not connected to SmartThings but they have just released a new integrated camera system that is expandable and scalable.
Choose wisely with cameras, hard wired Ethernet cameras can be difficult to install in a coop. On the flip side, cheap Wi-Fi cameras often don’t work well.
Wi-Fi
Because of the distance from my primary router, I added a second router to provide good signal strength for the cameras and smart devices. It also provides me with a strong internet signal in the backyard.
Conclusion
Smart technology isn’t always cheap and it doesn’t always work as advertised. I’ve got a couple of boxes of crap that didn’t work, broke, or became obsolete.
My entire home is integrated into my smart environment and if I add much more, I’ll have to split the house and the chicken coops into two different SmartThings hubs.
Smart technology isn’t for everyone but if you enjoy technology and gadgets, it could be for you. The system helps me be better at raising chickens and helps me to keep an eye on them when I am away from home whether it be an hour or all day.
Smart feeders will be my next thing I work on. I’ve not found anything on the market yet but I am looking at some ideas for automated feeders.
Let’s look at what and how I control on my coops.
Hub:
There are quite a few hub platforms in the market to run smart technology with.
Apple, Wink, Wemo and others are available but since 2015, I’ve used Smart Things. I began with the Lowe’s Iris system but it’s failure to work successfully after they went to version two pushed me the the Samsung Smart Things Hub and platform. The hub costs just over $100 and is widely available. There is no monthly fee for using Smart Things and there are a multitude of available products to link and control.
Lights:
I control the lighting in all of my coops with GE outdoor smart switches. These are more rough service and do better inside the coops. Lights are all triggered by sunrise and sunset as listed by the NWS and the times can be adjusted as much as an hour before or after sunrise and sunset. They can also trigger off of time of day or be manually controlled. The larger coop has lights that come on in stages to make the transition from light to dark or vice versa smoother.
Lights are all LED and are of varying wattages and brands. I can add, remove or interchange lights across all of my coops.
Doors:
After years of trial and error, I have found a brand of automated doors I could integrate into my smart environment. Hentronix door controls are made in the UK and are very versatile. I have five automated doors and they are of three different styles.
There are other doors coming on the market but Hentronix can be the ability to control the doors with Smart Things and be able to do it from anywhere.
I am in Southeast Tennessee on the west side of a mountain so my doors open at the posted sunrise time and close at 40 minutes after sunset. I can manually override the times or open a door after it’s closed should an errant hen not go in before the doors close.
The Hentronix doors close slowly so the chickens won’t get stuck in a door. I did lose one hen who tried to run back out as a different door system was closing.
Ventilation:
Each of my coops has at least one exhaust fan and at least one fan circulating air. These are controlled with either GE Outdoor switches or Centra Line switches (in a weather tight box). The fans work turn off and on based on the temperature of either door sensors or dedicated temperature sensors in each coop.
Heat:
Although I am not an advocate of heating coops, I do maintain the ability to quickly add some heat should we have large cold front come through. Now set at 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the GE switches are ready for heaters should zero weather be imminent. The heaters have only been used once in the last two years.
Chick Heaters are controlled by the same switches and sensors. We Run our brooder and new chicks in a room attached to the house.
Door and window sensors:
All doors both for chickens and humans are monitored by SmartThings Multipurpose sensors and they monitor whether a door is open or not. I get a push notification or a text when doors open or close.
These sensors monitor temperature and the difference between the East facing door and the sensor or the shelf can often be 40 degrees different.
These sensors also are part of the formula when doors close. The programming in SmartThings says to close the door at sunset plus forty minutes and if the associated door sensor is open. If I’ve closed the door early then it won’t try to operate the door because it recognizes it is closed.
These sensors also notify me of different temperatures both cold and hot.
Cameras:
I have 16 cameras with two terabytes of storage monitoring both coops and runs. The Ohwoai camera system provides solid performance and an ability to see what currently happening with my coops. No matter how many cameras you have, you can always find a blind spot.
Cameras can be fun as it allows you to see your chickens anytime you like.
My camera system is not connected to SmartThings but they have just released a new integrated camera system that is expandable and scalable.
Choose wisely with cameras, hard wired Ethernet cameras can be difficult to install in a coop. On the flip side, cheap Wi-Fi cameras often don’t work well.
Wi-Fi
Because of the distance from my primary router, I added a second router to provide good signal strength for the cameras and smart devices. It also provides me with a strong internet signal in the backyard.
Conclusion
Smart technology isn’t always cheap and it doesn’t always work as advertised. I’ve got a couple of boxes of crap that didn’t work, broke, or became obsolete.
My entire home is integrated into my smart environment and if I add much more, I’ll have to split the house and the chicken coops into two different SmartThings hubs.
Smart technology isn’t for everyone but if you enjoy technology and gadgets, it could be for you. The system helps me be better at raising chickens and helps me to keep an eye on them when I am away from home whether it be an hour or all day.
Smart feeders will be my next thing I work on. I’ve not found anything on the market yet but I am looking at some ideas for automated feeders.
