Smart idea? Or no?

[ChocolateMouse]

Oh, also, who knows what "ideal conditions" are for this solar panel, they don't actually say what that is. They may mean that ideal conditions include a system that tracks the sun's motion under full sun, or they may not. A stationary solar panel produces less than a rocking one. So *shrug*. There's just a lot of factors.

 

[Folly's place]

We had an electrician run wiring to our coop, all up to code and wonderful, worth it!
Our farm insurance company was happy too...
PS; Make sure that your home insurance covers your coop and chickens, because discovering that you have livestock (which chickens are) and your home owner's policy doesn't cover anything any more will be a bad experience.
Mary

 

[aart]

Does it take a lot to do it, my uncle is an electrician. I always thought that would be a pain though does anyone have experience doing it?

Ask your uncle to assess the situation and give you quote,
might be easy and you could get the family discount on labor costs.
Do you own your own home?

Heating take a butt load of power, as already mentioned,
a solar system would need a large collector(s) and battery storage.
It's been discussed before and discarded.

 

[Headhen3]

I would be more concerned about keeping water unfrozen than heating the birds. This last winter I used heat lamps directed at the waterers and that worked well until one of the barn cats figured out how to redirect the lamps straight down to provide a nice warm spot for the cats to sleep! I would think the cost of s big enough solar panel(s) would be more than running electricity to your coop. If you insulate well enough you won’t need to heat your coop and if you have time in the am to refill the waterers you emptied the night before you could get away with that. I lock the flock up at night because of predators with water and feed out side of their ‘panic room’ because that works for me and my work schedule. I have a couple of cat who sneak in with the chickens at night for a warm place to sleep.

 

[aart]

I would be more concerned about keeping water unfrozen than heating the birds.

Yeppers...another good reason to run power to our coop.