Cooling - solar or electric?

[May Wine]

My chicks are about 3-4 weeks old and their permanent coop and yard will soon be done. I thought a solar powered fan would be cool (sorry; just couldn’t help myself). Then I realized it wouldn’t run at night which is when they would be in the closed house.

I can put in electricity and maybe that’s the better idea anyway so I could then have an electric light. I had thought I would use solar for that as well.

Pros and cons?

 

[cavemanrich]

First,,, If you have proper ventilation, you may not need any fans. Proper ventilation year-round is very important.
If you still want some extra air movement during day,, Don't hesitate about that solar fan. It cant hurt.
Now to solar light. But first, There should be windows for natural light.
Light inside coop is generally not needed. Some peeps do like a little bit of light at dusk so hens walking into a dark coop, find their roost OK.
My chickens go into coop well before it gets dark. It is summertime here where I live. Days are long. Chickens do have enough outdoor time apparently.
Now lets get to wintertime,, when days are shorter. That is when chickens sometimes do straggle around, and it get dark early. That is when an inside coop light, that is not very bright comes in handy.

Not we can also discus additional light during short days, so chickens still keep laying well. That does get into somewhat longer discussion, and not many peeps choose to do so.
If you choose to try that, I can elaborate on that then.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Even if you don’t want to run an electric fan, I wouldn’t be surprised if you find that having power to your coop and run will come in handy in different situations.

As for a fan itself, you would want to aim it over their heads or something. Chickens don’t like breezes as a rule. In fact, I accidentally (and luckily) broke a broody by aiming a little camp fan at her while she was on the nest, because she was so hot.

Maybe something like that would work as an interim. Rechargeable via USB, long run time. It’s also great inside your house if you have a power failure in August.

This is mine (price has almost doubled in the few months since I ordered it

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Rec...ting-Essentials/dp/B0DWMHY6V1?ref_=ast_sto_dp

 

[May Wine]

First,,, If you have proper ventilation, you may not need any fans. Proper ventilation year-round is very important.
If you still want some extra air movement during day,, Don't hesitate about that solar fan. It cant hurt.
Now to solar light. But first, There should be windows for natural light.
Light inside coop is generally not needed. Some peeps do like a little bit of light at dusk so hens walking into a dark coop, find their roost OK.
My chickens go into coop well before it gets dark. It is summertime here where I live. Days are long. Chickens do have enough outdoor time apparently.
Now lets get to wintertime,, when days are shorter. That is when chickens sometimes do straggle around, and it get dark early. That is when an inside coop light, that is not very bright comes in handy.

Not we can also discus additional light during short days, so chickens still keep laying well. That does get into somewhat longer discussion, and not many peeps choose to do so.
If you choose to try that, I can elaborate on that then.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

Thanks for all the good info. It’s so hot right now so I’m concerned about that. I’ll put in the exhaust fan and probably a light as well. There’s a window and a full size door but having to make a night time visit is inevitable.