I took pictures of the "baby" chickens- who are now bigger than the older ones. It is so interesting to see how the different breeds mature.
And how about this guy(?) we thing he might be a rooster as he has been bigger than the rest since he got here. No definitive proof yet. We love the beards they are developing, not a good picture for that here, but most of the aracaunas have them.
Here it is- the up & running automated chicken door! Just flick the switch & up it goes. I don't think the chickens are impressed, but I am. We have plans to make it automated do it will go up and down on its own- but we need different parts (I believe). 
We put two eggs into the incubator the kids got for Christmas. We have candled them and could have, possibly, we don't really know, might have seen something. We put them in on the 30th and the 31st- so about 21 days will put us around Feb 20th. We don't even know who is laying now, so I can't wait to see what happens.
Wow, I love the actuator design, and the automated control. I read this and your post on backyard chicken forums and I'm understanding the basic concepts, but am a little lost on some of the details of the electronics. Looking at the firgelli auto site I see that you need to use the double pole double throw switch to reverse polarity going to the actuator. So the pilot control relay switch you mention does that right? How does the wiring work going into it to turn it on/off/reverse? Does it also convert from your main power to the 12v needed for the actuator? How do you have it hooked to the x-10 switches? Any info you can provide would be great. Thanks!
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