Advice needed - water heater, light, electric coop door?

[NHMountainMan]

Hi all - first timer looking for some advice

Putting the finishing touches on our coop - 2 weeks or so before the dozen chicks will be moving in. We live at elevation on an exposed ridge in the New Hampshire mountains. Every winter we'll get a week or two at -20 or so, with a few days with wind chills at -50. I'm confident in the coop's ability to protect from the elements, ventilate as needed and provide predator protection (hardware cloth and electric netting.)

My final concern is wiring the coop for an electric water heater, lighting and potentially an automatic coop door. My son is going to wire the coop for solar to power the fence, lights, and water heater. But I'm trying to figure out what heater and lights you all recommend, so he can calculate the electrical requirements for the solar set up.

Anyone in a cold weather climate have advice on keeping the water from freezing and lights burning? Also - recommended electric doors?

Thanks

 

[cavemanrich]

You have VERY GOOD QUESTIONS, and I will try to answer best I can.
For lights, LED lights use very little energy, so go with those.
For Pop door. I use an Ador1. It is battery operated, so no external electricity needed.
The HEATED WATER does pose a slight problem/hurdle. Reason is, most that I am aware of are 120 volt. You will need a quite significant solar power setup to create enough electricity to charge probably 2 deep cycle batteries. Then you would need an INVERTER to change that 12 volt to 120.
I posted and recommended this one to many peeps for winter water source.
It does consume pretty much wattage. 100W

• Capacity: 3 gal (12 qt)

• Bucket Dimensions: 9"H, 13"Dia

• Overall Height: 14"H

• Suited for: Up to 35 adult birds

• 100-watt heater

• Detachable 16 ft grounded electrical cord

• Supplied with 6 horizontal nipples. Replacement nipples sold under accessories tab above

Here is link to where you can get this one.
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/heated-poultry-waterer

Is it possible to get house current to your coop. That would solve many problems IMHO.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[pennyJo1960]

I use a aquarium heater in 5 gallon water buckets by the nipples off Amazon
no poop in the water that way either

 

[jthornton]

Solar power and heat usually don't fit in the same sentence because of the watts needed to heat the water. The better insulated the water bucket the less heat you need to keep it from freezing. I tried various methods to keep the water nipples from freezing and finally ended up with foam insulation around the nipples and another bucket bottom over that to keep the chickens from pecking the insulation. I also wrapped the bucket with some cardboard for a small layer of insulation. But I have a 250 watt heater in there so the only issue I had was the nipples freezing not the bucket.




I also used a heater that sat on the bottom as a floating heater failed to keep the nipples from freezing.


JT

 

[aart]

Solar power and heat usually don't fit in the same sentence because of the watts needed to heat the water.

My first thought too.

Are you going to use lights for winter laying or just to do chores?

This heated waterer has worked for 5 years for me:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/