Lighting without electricity?

[rosemarythyme]

what about a "2 story" coop. Pic below is a stock pic of the coop we have. What if I make the entire bottom undeneath the coop another "level" of the coop. Open up the whole thing so it's one big unit, add some more roosting bars, etc. Since we'd be expanding the run itself we really don't need the underneath.
The coop is mostly in the shade so using underneath to get out of the sun isn't an issue

The biggest issue I see with your idea is that chickens don't think that way. Assuming your chickens are all well integrated with each other, they'll want to stay together, so either you'll have all the chickens up, or all down.

What you can do for time being is to open up the whole thing as one unit, period. No upstairs part. Run roost lengthwise or maybe 2 across shorter side? This gives them the ventilation and light they need, plus space. You will probably still need to expand in the future, but while they're still small, at least that gives them a little more wiggle room.

 

[lazy gardener]

All of what Chicken Canoe said, and then some. took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[Howard E]

All of what Chicken Canoe said, and then some. took the words right out of my mouth.

That X2.

To the OP, the last thing in the world you need is a solar light. You need more window space providing natural light. Chickens seem to have the same light sensor as my dusk to dawn light does. They will go inside and put themselves to bed within 2 minutes of the dusk to dawn light coming on. Always.

Here are two examples of natural light and ventilation. The Woods house......



In addition to the wide open end, there are two side windows, two top windows and the white roof shown in the low front roof is an opaque plastic roof that allows about 80% light transmission. In addition to all that, the interior is painted white to reflect the light around. So the interior is flooded with natural light and it has wide open ventilation, year round.

Woods house was developed for your climate and is the gold standard of chicken houses. Light and ventilation are it's hallmarks.

This is the Victory house....



It also has an abundance of ventilation, but the only interior light source is those two windows, and the interior is not painted white. It stays darker in there and goes dark earlier. Yet the birds still go to roost at dusk with no effort on my part.

So as others have suggested, forget about all the modern era techno solutions. Do yourself (and the birds) a huge favor and open up your house to provide natural light and ventilation!

 

[lazy gardener]

 

[LisaMarie81]

What you can do for time being is to open up the whole thing as one unit, period. No upstairs part. Run roost lengthwise or maybe 2 across shorter side? This gives them the ventilation and light they need, plus space. You will probably still need to expand in the future, but while they're still small, at least that gives them a little more wiggle room.

Not 100% I follow you. Do you mean leave the coop doors open so they can stay in the run at night too? While we work on expanding it?

 

[LisaMarie81]

Since you guys have all been so helpful, here are a few pics. I was talking to my husband last night trying to figure out the best way to increase the size of the coop itself. The run will be a piece of cake. We've already discussed that.
The coop though. This is what it looks like now inside and out. It has 4 nesting boxes and 2 roosts,a back door for easy access, 2 small windows (and for a previous poster let me clarify when I said screen I meant hardwire, not normal screen).

We went into this knowing "kits" aren't the best, but our plan was to start with a kit and build off it (mainly because after building the tree house you see in one pic, we are done building. LOL).
This stupid thing was slated for 18 birds. I KNOW they aren't sized right. I did do research on that which was why for 8 birds I didn't buy an 8 bird coop. I knew they were small, but I figured 18 birds...should be good for 8. Nope. Still tiny.
ANYWAYS! We were thinking of coming right off the back of this to enlarge it. It would be under our treehouse which I think would be ok. There are large trees over the coop now and the chickens only get morning sun so they stay fairly cool. In the winter with all the leaves gone they will get sun all day.

In the interim I can also open that useless door you see inside the run on the right of the ramp. I have asked my husband to put hardwire over the opening and I'll leave that open as well to increase ventilation for now.

 

[LisaMarie81]

Oh...and here's the girls....just because.

 

[MROO]

Not 100% I follow you. Do you mean leave the coop doors open so they can stay in the run at night too? While we work on expanding it?

Nope - I think @LisaMarie81 is telling you to remove the second story flooring and open up the entire house as one, tall unit. "Replace" the flooring with a couple of roosts. You'll need to leave enough flight room for them to fly up to the highest perches. They won't miss having the floor and they'll have more vertical space to move around.

As far as replacing the "useless" door with hardware wire, I recommend keeping the door, but cutting as large a hole in it as you can - and replacing THAT with hardwire. That way you can still open itup, if you need to. I made that mistake when replacing a double door on my playhouse conversion - and regret losing the doorway! Now it's on the list for retro repairs ... in all that spare time I have ...!

 

[LisaMarie81]

Gotcha on the second story. That's kinda my original idea. Simply remove the floor and close in the entire bottom half where the run goes under the coop and make it one big coop floor to ceiling adding roosting bars and maybe a ramp inside.
As for the useless door. I do see what you're saying, but the other access door is directly behind it on the other side and I can reach all the same areas from there. That's kinda why I say it's useless.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Ventilation is very important. I would make an opening for ventilation and let that be the light source as well. Chickens will not enter a dark space. They go to roost while it is actually still light out. If it is too dark they will not go in. And it sounds like it is too dark anyway. When I first built my first coop, it was dark and closed in the roosting area. I soon realized that the birds would prefer more air and more light even if it is colder.... chickens can take a fair amount of cold in the pursuit of fresh air.