Nest box camera

SQUINTING WINDO · 23-03-2010 9:56am #1

Has anyone out there a NestBox Cam that they have online for the 2010 nesting season . I have one myself (not online) and am wondering when the Blue Tit begin to build .

Judgement Day · 23-03-2010 1:10pm

Blue Tits usually breed from April to July but will probably be checking out good nesting sites already. You're probably just as likely to get a Great Tit or a Coal Tit in your box. Remember to face your nestbox to the East out of the prevailing wind and rain, and the heat of the afternoon sun. Some helpful info here: http://www.dt4u.com/dtsystems/birdbox.php
I have been meaning to get one of these boxes with a built in camera for a while now and this could be the year - any suggestions where to buy a good one at a realistic price? The RSPB have one for 99 sterling plus p+p and Birdwatch Ireland have one for €130 but Lidl and Aldi usually get them in for less than half that.

SQUINTING WINDO · 23-03-2010 1:50pm

Bought mine 2 years ago in ALDI €49.99 Bird roosted in it for the first Winter , the bird cleaned it out itself last season 09 ,but did not come back to build nest . I have already had some activity this year and am hoping for sucess !

Half-cocked · 23-03-2010 1:54pm

Blue Tits are checking out my nest boxes for the last 2 weeks. Fingers crossed!

Judgement Day · 23-03-2010 2:03pm

SQUINTING WINDO wrote: »

Bought mine 2 years ago in ALDI €49.99 Bird roosted in it for the first Winter , the bird cleaned it out itself last season 09 ,but did not come back to build nest . I have already had some activity this year and am hoping for sucess !

Have Aldi had the nestboxes in this year? How did you find the picture quality?

SQUINTING WINDO · 23-03-2010 2:20pm

Aldi did have them about 2 months ago , not there now (at least in my area) Tese are self assembly ,the camera can be focused and rotated for max image. Colour although not perfect is fine and the infrared night images are quite sharp , the mic pick up is superb and in fact can act as security for youself as it picks up the slighest noise ,yuo can enjoy the full Dawn Chours .BUT all to no avail if you do not have a lodger!

jmkennedyie · 23-03-2010 6:47pm

ALDI/LIDL (can't remember which) got their camera from these guys. http://www.homenetproducts.co.uk/index.asp. Might sell direct if you phone them...

The camera hooks into SCART. They sell extra cable (6 core - 20m) and also DVR.

Judgement Day · 23-03-2010 8:14pm

jmkennedyie wrote: »

ALDI/LIDL (can't remember which) got their camera from these guys. http://www.homenetproducts.co.uk/index.asp. Might sell direct if you phone them...

The camera hooks into SCART. They sell extra cable (6 core - 20m) and also DVR.

Thanks for that but on checking their site I think that a private purchase is not an option.

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 9:52am

It's not too late.

I have a camera installed in one of my nestboxes that I got from fleabay for 8 pounds.

I have it hooked up direct to TV via RCA.

I'm about to hook it up to my house server in the attic via a USB video converter and 20m of RCA which I purchased yesterday for 20 Eur all in.

I only have a 1 Mb line with about 128 upload so I cannot effectively broadcast the image - sorry. I would share if I could.

My solution for all my ip cameras plus this new analog one is to use teamviewer. That way, I can log on to the server from the internet and view all my ip cams (plus recorded images) and hopefully the new nestcam. I'll use some windows sw to record.

Nice and cheap. Teamviewer uses compression so it's just about usable.

I have a female bluetit at the moment who is visiting daily and pecking at the entry hole and the walls and floor. I think she's ready to start building soon.

Can't wait.

doctor evil · 24-03-2010 10:31am

How do you tell the difference between a male and female Blue tit?

gaz wac · 24-03-2010 12:02pm

Its a pity that company dont sell to the public, its perfect. Knew i should have bought one when they were on sale

anywhere else sell them...?

Half-cocked · 24-03-2010 12:16pm

gaz wac wrote: »

Its a pity that company dont sell to the public, its perfect. Knew i should have bought one when they were on sale anywhere else sell them...?

You can build your own quite easily, buy a 6IR wired camera and whatever length cable you need on ebay. Avoid the wireless cameras, they're usually crap. Build a box out of 6" x 3/4" white deal and protect the outside with a water based preservative. Plenty of designs available online, just google it. My homemade efforts cost about €15 each and work just as well as the commercial ones. Good Luck!

gaz wac · 24-03-2010 12:26pm

Half-cocked wrote: »

buy a 6IR wired camera and whatever length cable you need on ebay. !

And thats where the problems start

i dont know anything about wires or cameras..or even e-bay ha. building it would be no problem, its the tech part im usless at. Any basic packages you can buy? thanks

p.s is it too late for this year ?

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 12:47pm

doctor evil wrote: »

How do you tell the difference between a male and female Blue tit?

She's wearing a little dress ;-)

Apparently, it's the female that displays the pecking, wing fluttering behaviour in the nest box so I'm assuming it's the female.

SQUINTING WINDO · 24-03-2010 12:52pm

Best of luck! No movement here for a few days , but weather bad maybe thats the reason.

Half-cocked · 24-03-2010 12:55pm

gaz wac wrote: »

And thats where the problems start i dont know anything about wires or cameras..or even e-bay ha. building it would be no problem, its the tech part im usless at. Any basic packages you can buy? thanks

p.s is it too late for this year ?

You can buy from places like http://www.handykam.com/ in the UK but I find they are all rather expensive - around ST£50 for a camera setup you could put together yourself for less than half the cost. They are good quality products though.

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 12:56pm

gaz wac wrote: »

And thats where the problems start i dont know anything about wires or cameras..or even e-bay ha. building it would be no problem, its the tech part im usless at. Any basic packages you can buy? thanks

p.s is it too late for this year ?

Not too late afaik.

Here's an ebay link to similar setup to what I have put together

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEST-BOX-WITH-COLOUR-CAMERA-PLUS-PC-LAPTOP-CONNECTION_W0QQitemZ250594012254QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_Garden_Plants_Bird_Bath_Feeder_CV?hash=item3a58912c5e

Not the cheapest but they deliver to Ireland. I checked birdwatch Ireland and they have one for 130 but you'll find it probably comes from the UK anyway.

Judgement Day · 24-03-2010 1:11pm

gaz wac wrote: »

And thats where the problems start i dont know anything about wires or cameras..or even e-bay ha. building it would be no problem, its the tech part im usless at. Any basic packages you can buy? thanks

p.s is it too late for this year ?

Couldn't have put it better myself - when it comes to scart plugs, wires and cameras.....aghhh! Can you imagine what the result would be, the Blue Tit would be just settling down to incubate and then would get electrocuted or worse. I'll keep searching for the ready made item.

gaz wac · 24-03-2010 1:21pm

E39MSport wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEST-BOX-WITH-COLOUR-CAMERA-PLUS-PC-LAPTOP-CONNECTION_W0QQitemZ250594012254QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_Garden_Plants_Bird_Bath_Feeder_CV?hash=item3a58912c5e

QUOTE]

In fairness, just say £80, which would be €90...so not too bad, concidering the Irish site is €130 and that one is not a colour camera! My biggest problem now, is telling Mrs Wac im spending €100 on a bird box

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 1:33pm

Just be aware that the nest box may be dark most of the time and so depending on the quality of the lens and other hardware, the image might be black and white for the most part (in IR mode).

Good luck with it. You'll love it !!!

edit: - not being condescending here but pay attention to where you position it. http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Advice/FAQ/GardenBirdFAQ/tabid/368/Default.aspx

SQUINTING WINDO · 24-03-2010 2:07pm

E39MSport wrote: »

She's wearing a little dress ;-)

Apparently, it's the female that displays the pecking, wing fluttering behaviour in the nest box so I'm assuming it's the female.

I read somewhere that the bird circles around the base of the box with outstreched wings , once it can turn around with her wings out the box is "big enough" to build in .

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 2:37pm

SQUINTING WINDO wrote: »

I read somewhere that the bird circles around the base of the box with outstreched wings , once it can turn around with her wings out the box is "big enough" to build in .

There's been a bit of that alright but there wouldn't be much more room to swing the proverbial cat.

Here's some interesting stuff I came acorss yesterday. There may be a live cam on there somewhere. Some nice pics there.

www.rspbliverpool.org.uk/Nestcam07.htm

gaz wac · 24-03-2010 2:38pm

yea, i was actually wondering that ( about the light ) as seen as the only light coming in is from the small entrance hole. !! do you have a good pix with your homemade version? how would I know if the camera is good on that e-bay site you listed? do they have grades, pixels or somthing that you can compare?

E39MSport · 24-03-2010 3:06pm

Here's the spec of the one I bought.
* Video System : Pal/Ntsc
* Imaging Sensor : 1/3-Inch CMOS, A Class
* Effective Pixels : (PAL) 628 x 582
* Resolution 380 TV lines
* Min. Illumination : 0.2Lux
* Camera Voltage : 6V-9V DC
* Power Consumption: 200mW
* Size : 25x35x15mm
* Audio output function
It's near identical to the one in the linked nestbox above. One thing I had to do was loosely cover the LEDs so that the light bounces off the covering tape thus lessening the effect of the LED brightness.
Mine cost less than a tenner.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CMOS-Color-Spy-Security-Camera-Wired-w-6-IR-Led-Power_W0QQitemZ270538898441QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CCTV?hash=item3efd5ffc09

On both, at .2 lux, the IR lights kick in and turn the image BW. You could mod it so that some natural light gets in by way of a small slot etc.

Here's Mr or Mrs in the box earlier checking out the camera. It's taken with a phone pointing at my old crt tv screen (which has decided that everything should now look agreen).

gaz wac · 24-03-2010 6:04pm

Ok, so talking to my mate and he has a paypal account and im fairly sure i could build a nest box, no problem so im going to have a go at it !! :eek:

Sorry to be a pain E39MS but could you list out what you bought? like I see the camera link but what is that attached to ( is it the long long cable? ), does the three coloured plugs go into the wire? then is there a scart at the end which you plug into your tv?

Cant see your pix in work, but dying to go home to see it

Thanks again

E39MSport · 25-03-2010 10:53am

Here you go. Everything I got is in this kit. Instructions incl. Ships to Ireland. Positive feedback.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DELUX-BIRD-NEST-BOX-CAMERA-KIT-WITH-SOUND-NIGHT-VISION_W0QQitemZ300401016121QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Toys_Creative_Educational_RL?hash=item45f14bbd39

All you need then is the box. Get a cheap one free from preservatives etc and take it apart.

If you want to hook it up to a PC then you'll need this: -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0011N9QNC/ref=oss_product

Hope this helps. Best of luck with it. Let me know if you need more help.

gaz wac · 25-03-2010 11:07am

Thanks a million

I will learn how to upload pix and ill show you's how i get on.

eekkkk all nervous now, hope they are not to fussy about my workmanship....( from a bloke who cant hammer a nail in straight ) :eek:

doctor evil · 25-03-2010 12:18pm

E39MSport wrote: »

She's wearing a little dress ;-)

A dress is not very practical.

Half-cocked · 25-03-2010 1:10pm

gaz wac wrote: »

Thanks a million I will learn how to upload pix and ill show you's how i get on.

eekkkk all nervous now, hope they are not to fussy about my workmanship....( from a bloke who cant hammer a nail in straight ) :eek:

Just make sure water can't run down inside the box. Glue/staple a strip of rubber over where the lid meets the back of the box. Once it stays dry inside, the birds won't be too fussy.

gaz wac · 25-03-2010 1:14pm

Was looking at a site and they had resin glass / plastic on the roof and sides ( small windows, you might say ) to let more light in so you get a clearer pix for the camera, what your views? out of direct sunlight and all that..?

E39MSport · 25-03-2010 1:21pm

This is what bwi have to say: -

"It is important to put the nestbox up well before nesting season, as many birds begin their search for nest sites in February. Make sure to position your box well: ideally, fix it two to five metres high on a wall, fence, or tree trunk, where predators (including cuts and squirrels) can’t reach it. Do not nail the box to a tree, but use wire or a strap. Unless the site is very sheltered, the box should face between north and south-east to avoid hot sun and the west winds."

Not sure about the window tbh. You could get a standard one for the camera to give you a higher chance of success and perhaps get the window one and see if any birds are drawn to it and if so whack a camera in it for next year.

Best to get cracking asap though.

Nest box camera

Comments