Camera Recommendation for Chicken Coop

write2dgray

write2dgray

n3wb
Sep 6, 2017
6
0
I've had good experiences with Dahua cameras in the past and would like to add another by PoE to my Blue Iris system. The camera will be located inside a 10'x12' chicken coop either high on the wall or on the ceiling. Half the time I will be viewing a direct feed and half the time I will be viewing remotely. I'm willing to spend a little more on a good camera.

Important stuff:
- low light visibility to view predators at night and make sure chickens in
- wide angle of view for small room (or pan/tilt?)

Not important stuff:
- size/looks

What camera would you recommend for this application?
 
A Dahua "Lite Series" PTZ might work well for you.

Lite Series
 
And here I thought I was the only one with a chicken coop camera. I originally put it there to figure out which hen was breaking the eggs, and the answer was an invader bluejay. With the bluejay migrated away now, the main use is for seeing when to go out and gather the eggs. I agonized a little before deciding to disable the camera's IR light. Some web sites say that IR is visible to chickens. I don't know if that's correct or not, but decided to leave it off. I do have another camera looking at the outside of the coop that should let me identify "who done it" after an attack. I have coyotes, skunks, and a badger regularly passing through. I'm using my junkiest camera because it's good enough for what I need in this application, and using my best camera looking at the outside area.
 
tigerwillow1 said:
And here I thought I was the only one with a chicken coop camera...
Click to expand...

I gotta admit that a Chicken Coop Cam beats it all...but I MUST to be the only person who operates a Feral Cat Shelter Cam.

 
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Q™ said:
A Dahua "Lite Series" PTZ might work well for you.

Lite Series
Click to expand...
I'll look into those. I won't need the zoom feature much or at all, but the starlight feature looks good to have. Thanks!

tigerwillow1 said:
And here I thought I was the only one with a chicken coop camera. I originally put it there to figure out which hen was breaking the eggs, and the answer was an invader bluejay. With the bluejay migrated away now, the main use is for seeing when to go out and gather the eggs. I agonized a little before deciding to disable the camera's IR light. Some web sites say that IR is visible to chickens. I don't know if that's correct or not, but decided to leave it off. I do have another camera looking at the outside of the coop that should let me identify "who done it" after an attack. I have coyotes, skunks, and a badger regularly passing through. I'm using my junkiest camera because it's good enough for what I need in this application, and using my best camera looking at the outside area.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of the chicken IR debate, I'll have to look into that a bit more. I was planning on using a camera IR in the coop.

Q™ said:
I gotta admit that a Chicken Coop Cam beats it all...but I MUST to be the only person who operates a Feral Cat Shelter Cam.
Click to expand...
Up close and high def. That's one way to keep an eye on them and see who's the instigator!
 
I have two of the lite series PTZ's in service. They have the advantage of being very quiet during PTZ operation.
My only concern would be keeping the dome clean in a chicken coop.
 
tigerwillow1 said:
And here I thought I was the only one with a chicken coop camera. I originally put it there to figure out which hen was breaking the eggs, and the answer was an invader bluejay. With the bluejay migrated away now, the main use is for seeing when to go out and gather the eggs. I agonized a little before deciding to disable the camera's IR light. Some web sites say that IR is visible to chickens. I don't know if that's correct or not, but decided to leave it off. I do have another camera looking at the outside of the coop that should let me identify "who done it" after an attack. I have coyotes, skunks, and a badger regularly passing through. I'm using my junkiest camera because it's good enough for what I need in this application, and using my best camera looking at the outside area.
Click to expand...
After some internet research I'm siding with the group that believes birds, including chickens, can't see IR. Here's one reference:
Raptor Resource Project Blog: What is infrared light, and why can't eagles see it?
 
Typical Internet, look at different sites and get opposite answers!
 
The camera we used isn't what you want (does anybody remember X-10?) but we learned a few things. As you probably know, nothing is clean in a chicken coop and even in a high corner it got filthy. It was a more demanding situation than I expected because even during the day the lighting was poor. We were trying to distinguish individual chickens and the images weren't sharp enough.

I'd go for wide-angle, forget pan/tilt but get good low-light capability or maybe you could switch an auxiliary light source on when you need it. If you have predators you won't need detail unless you want to post the video somewhere - it will be chaotic. Consider another camera outside for lurking critters.
 
Having recently went through this effort I found a fun way to get this to work.
I bought the following to make it truly wireless, meaning I didn't have to run power or any other wires.
Dlink 932L (D-Link DCS-932L Day & Night Wi-Fi Camera)
TRIPP LITE 3-Feet USB to Type - N 5V DC Power Cable A Male to Type N Barrel, Black (U152-003-N)
And a 12000mAh power bank.

With this setup I was able to get the camera to run for a day. Make sure your wifi wifi will reach and you can do this by making sure you have at least 2 bars by your coop for at least 2-3 minutes (test by surfing the web).

The pictures from this camera are pretty good and I would say it's baby monitor quality day and night (actually it's better than my baby's monitor).

If you wanted to you can also set this up to solar cells however requires a power bank that can both be charged and used at the same time. There are a few that do this, I just didn't mind disconnecting it at night, charging overnight, and reconnecting in the morning.
 
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