Microcontroller and UI code for my chicken coop

I am finishing my graduate degree in computer engineering. My professional experience is related to power systems. I had a software development internship set up for Summer 2020, but that opportunity was derailed by COVID-19. In lieu of that internship, I have decided to tackle a few individual projects, one of which is this chicken coop.

The purpose of the chicken coop is to foster a healthier yard. Before moving into this house, three large oak trees occupied the backyard. Apparently, oak trees acidify soil, and that ph inbalance can last after the trees are gone (they were taken out by a tornado). The soil in our backyard is no healthy, and I believe introducing a chickens to the environment can help restore it.

I have no carpentry experience, and learning skills pertaining to wood working interests me. That is outside of the scope of this repo, but worth mentioning when discussing desired outcomes of this project.

I would like the coop to have a remote door, remote lighting, a sensing system to determine if a chicken has laid an egg.

To start, I will be using a firebeetle-esp8266. I have two that I am not using. It has WiFi capabilities and low power consumption. I am going to try and squeeze everything I can out of this thing.

My mom's partner gave me a 100W solar panel, 12v battery, and charge controller. I will be using these to power the coop.

Fair question. I am historically bad at documenting my projects. This is an attempt to do better. I may be including more than is desired or necessary, but I would like to be as detailed as possible for this project.