[Rosemary]

Thinking about lighting one of the henhouses next winter using solar.

I understand that we want 14 hours of "daylight" and to have the light come on early morning and give them a natural dusk.

Any thoughts or recommendations for light systems?

[Victorian Farmer]

E bay and Amazon have kits some good leds and a decent panel to pawer. I would use leisure battery as well.

[chrismahon]

it's very important to give them two weeks off laying Rosemary otherwise they will 'burn out' I've been told. Based on my experience 14 hours is excessive. All ours will lay as normal at 12 hours and some will continue down to 9 hours. I think a lot depends on temperature as well, because what they eat is both building eggs and keeping them warm.


Yes a natural dusk is important so they can perch, because their vision in low light is very poor. We tried lighting the coop in the mornings one year with an ordinary 12V bulb with a timer and leisure battery, but the resulting mess inside from spilt feed and water caused by their scramble to feed in cramped conditions led us to conclude that all the extra cleaning up and bedding didn't warrant the few extra eggs.

[JEP]

the timer will have to be 12volt to run of the battery
you can run led spots or led tube
with solar charger go for lager panel 5w min

[oor wullie]

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Powered-Poultry-Lighting.htm

Worth reading the above page which is what I based mine on.  You will need a battery, solar panel, charge controller, 12v timer (note these are a lot less common than 240v ones), led lights, some wires to join it all together and a plastic box to keep it in to prevent the hens from pooping on the electrics.

All the parts can be found on ebay pretty cheaply, except a decent sized battery will always cost a few pounds (preferably a leisure one - ie designed for continual low use on caravans).

It is not that difficult to get set up.
If you need any pictures etc. of our system let me know.

[Rosemary]

THanks folks. Given my technodullard status, I've bought a kit