It did not start with a plan, it started with leftovers. A few ESP32 boards were still lying around from another project, plus a small IoT starter kit with a servo, an LED, a button and an LCD display. At some point the question came up: what if people could watch our hens over the internet and feed them with a click?
The idea is simple. A camera shows the run live. The page has a button. Whoever presses it really drops grain in the run and sees in the picture how the hens come running. Not a game, not a simulation, but real feed.
The first version
On 6 July 2026 the first version was in the code: a website with a live picture and a feed button, a small server that takes the clicks, and the firmware for the ESP32 that moves the servo in the end. All in one project, so nothing gets lost.
Two things were fixed from the start:
- All rules run on the server: how often feeding happens per day, how long the pause between two feedings is, when the camera is on. The ESP32 itself decides nothing, it only executes.
- The ESP32 only connects outwards. There is no open port in the hen house and no forwarding in the router. The device calls the server, not the other way round.
On top of that came a demo mode that runs the whole site without hardware. The feeder is simply simulated. That sped up development enormously, because I did not need a device on my desk for every change.
What came next
In the first days the outlines of much that is on the site today already appeared: a daily limit per visitor, the feed pot, a roll of honour for supporters, the captcha protection against bots. A lot of it was rebuilt several times later. But after the first week the direction was clear.