A while back, [Kutluhan Aktar] was trying to hack their chickens, quails, and ducks for higher egg production and faster hatching times by using a bit of classical conditioning. That is, feeding them at the same time every day while simultaneously exposing them to sound and light. Once [Kutluhan] slipped enough times, they hatched a plan to build an automatic feeder.
This fun rooster-shaped bird feeder runs on an Arduino Nano and gets its time, date, and temperature info from a DS3231 RTC. All [Kutluhan] has to do is set the daily feeding time. When it comes, a pair of servos and a pan-tilt kit work together to invert a Pringles can filled with food pellets. A piezo buzzer and a green LED provide the sound and light to help with conditioning. Scratch your way past the break to see it in action.
If [Kutluhan] gets tired of watching the birds eat at the same time every day, perhaps a trash-for-treats training program could be next on the list.
Via r/duino
How does a set feeding time increase egg production?
yeah! Would like to hear that too, and whether Kutluhan’s experiment has succeeded in increasing production.
I would think the feeding is associated with the time of “day” if your day is longer/shorter than 24 hrs, after a while start of feeding will no longer be in sync
My dad told this story more than once while I was young. He fastened a wind-up alarm clock on a high shelf in the summer kitchen where a raised-to-off knife switch (early electricity) on the wall switched power to the coop. When the wind-up key for the alarm started to unwind it wound up a string that pulled a weight off the shelf that fell with it’s tether tied to the handle of the knife switch. Hens up! Depression era hacking that worked.
Early light on a regular time gets those hens a pumpin’ eggs (it takes hours) and they have to stand up to “lay” one. Imagine being a hen and not being “regular”. It might result in an eggplosion?
Hopefully this will not result in a Cluck-tastrophe….but in an eggplosion.
You know that chicken houses that have 2 doors are called Chicken Coops ….if they have 4 doors then they are Chicken Sedans…….😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄