What do I buy to set up a chicken cam?

Grammahen

Songster
12 Years
Feb 23, 2009
209
6
189
Southern New Hampshire
Could someone give me some good advice on what I should purchase to set up a chicken cam in the coop and what to do to post the views on line?
I have new chicks under my silkie mom and would love to view them on my computer and share the experience with my family and friends.

Thanks!
 
They are snug inside the coop. Any recommendations on which kind of web cam to buy that works well? Is there a special cite to upload the images to? Can I upload them to my BYC page?
Thanks
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You can get a wireless webcam for $150-300, then link it to a site like ustream. Not cheap but doable. I've been thinking about it(we had a wired 1 set up for the brooder), there is even ones w/ nightvision. These all need ac power though.
 
I have decided that when I re-do my coop for the birds that I have coming, I will have a web cam inside the coop and in the run. I am seriously considering one of the Panasonic Wireless Network Camera for one or both of the placements. Or, I may just stick a spare laptop in a safe place in the coop and put a few of my existing webcams in it.

I have a website where I have a streaming cam and a static cam which I view while at work - sort of a security system. I use TinCam as software for the static cam (my cam refreshes every 20 seconds using Java, not meta-refresh, and you can adjust the capture rate to whatever you want), and an old and mostly broken program for streaming (which is not working anymore
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). TinCam streams, but I do not like how it does it as it is a .wmv stream. WebcamXP is a great streaming program though, and I have used it in the past if you want to go that way.

There are many options available, but I think that the panasonic network cams which only need to communicate with a wireless router and do not need access to a computer (other than initial setup), may be the way to go. Oh, and get your own website rather than rely on a manufacturers site which may or may not be around when you most need it.

Now even I am confused
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Well, I personally would recommend a network camera, but the setup may be fairly involved. It depends on the on the network strength though, if you don't have a good signal where the camera would be I would recommend running an Ethernet cable to the camera or just using a game cam. Then there is the price, most network cameras range from $100 - $300, if you are or know someone tech-savvy enough there are tutorials on the internet about building network cameras for far cheaper, I personally built a network camera for my broody mother Silkie and am currently streaming if you would like to watch: chickencam.cf. Feel free to ask me any more questions.
 

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