• For the past month, the Galinetta henhouse, autonomous and connected, has been tested by the employees of Sicoval, the urban community in the south-east of Toulouse.

  • Powered by solar energy and rainwater, this henhouse can recycle bio-waste using chickens and a composter.

  • It can be managed remotely, whether it be hatch openings or replenishment, does not require a permanent presence and is therefore suitable for companies and schools.

By consulting his mobile phone, thanks to a simple SMS, Vincent Hernandez knows how many eggs have been laid by the 20 hens installed a few meters from the buildings of Sicoval, the urban community in the south-east of Toulouse. As the chickens cackle in their pen, in the same way, he can remotely trigger the cleaning of the henhouse he has invented or know to the nearest gram what his galinettes have eaten.

Often on the move, this employee in the industrial maintenance sector had the idea a few years ago to develop an autonomous and connected henhouse.

“I was on the move a lot and was looking for a way to be able to open the hatches remotely at night when they are in the dormitory, replenish them with water, grains, or collect the eggs remotely.

So I automated my henhouse, ”says the young man.

Waste recycling

Word of mouth confirms to this Geo Trouvetou that his concept could well appeal beyond his village, especially with schools, but also companies whose canteens produce fermentable waste that chickens love.

And who will have to recycle them within a few years.

With his friend Clément Saccavini, they then embarked on this project which corresponds to a basic trend: that of consuming locally while allowing to have an impact on the environment through the recovery of bio-waste. After two years of development and a patent filing, a month ago it delivered its first Galinetta shelter to Sicoval, where 32 employees play beta testers.

During the week, they bring back their organic buckets where they have deposited their vegetable peelings and other fermentables. "One is intended for hens, it will be weighed thanks to an integrated system to know the weight, the other composed of organic waste is poured into the composter integrated in the henhouse", explains Jérémy Gadek, in charge of the "Circular economy" mission. At Sicoval. Every Monday, these volunteers meet around the enclosure to collect the eggs, but also to discuss the chickens some of which they have given nicknames.

“We consider that chickens are not garbage cans.

We already have a lot of composting solutions offered on our territory, our goal is to link this experiment to other issues, in particular that of good food.

And then after this period of health crisis, getting together around the enclosure is a convivial moment, ”explains this manager.

Educational tool and social link

Making Galinetta an educational tool but also an exchange is one of the challenges of its creators. “We designed it to be completely autonomous thanks to the rainwater collector and solar panels. It can be adapted to all audiences, whether collective residences, retirement homes or schools. We even imagined that the students could resell the eggs of their hens and thus generate income to finance the henhouse and its maintenance, ”says Vincent Hernandez.

The recovery of the biodegradable part of his bins would allow the user to lower his waste bill when it varies according to weight. With 20 hens, the creators of the henhouse estimate that they can recover 4 tonnes of bio-waste per year, produce 1.5 tonnes of compost and produce around 5,000 eggs. Taken together, these profits are a selling point for the two young entrepreneurs who are starting this month to market their high-tech henhouse, built in sustainable materials. They will offer it either for sale for around 15,000 euros, or for hire with different maintenance options.

"We have known for a long time that hens recover waste, we just adapted the henhouse, we made it autonomous and connected, in particular to meet today's availability constraints", concludes Vincent Hernandez.

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  • Connected objects

  • Waste

  • Egg

  • Recycling

  • Animals

  • Environment

  • Toulouse

  • Hen

  • Planet