Water chiller??

I loved my girls. I had Silkies and they make amazing pets, but I could talk about chickens until the cocks come home.

You've got loads of sun out there but Peltier coolers (which is what those mini-fridges are based on) are horribly inefficient and they're unlikely to work well (if at all) with a 12V solar cell. Unless you got a really, really big one.

One possibility that comes to mind is digging a hole (below the frost line) and putting a water tank in there. While it can be done, the practicalities of keeping the water from stagnating are going to be an obstacle (never mind the demand pump to bring the water up).

The most "obvious" (cough) solution to me seems to be some sort of insulated jacket. A "thermos" bottle - the old vacuum flask - can keep water from extreme temperatures because a lot of heat moves through the air by convection although there's the radiation (IR) problem there too.

So a reflective jacket - made of that silvered plastic you can get in emergency kits might work. So to, actually, would a box of mirrors although that's probably getting a little silly.

Heat (which is actually just the amount of energy that molecules in a mater have) is a tricky business because it can move through a vacuum - if it couldn't we wouldn't be here! But it can also move via conduction and convection.

To stop your water getting hot or cold you need to account for each effect and insulate the best you can. I found that putting my water supply on "tap" and fitting "chicken nipples" where I needed the water to get to the girls helped enormously. Water stayed sweeter, longer too as they are not pooping in it.

Good on you for looking after your animals - they might have a tiny brain - but those brains are very efficient. Look at this one, it's even plucked itself!

I'm joking of course, this is a genetically modified hen breed. But it's always there for a joke about being bald and sunburned.

@marcdraco yeah those aren’t very efficient, yesterday I actually found a compressor cooler. Website is setpower. Says they draw about 40-50W. I got 2 100 watt panels so I might go that route. Ground is pretty much all sand so digging wouldn’t rly work. It’s hot way down.

You could use a couple of thermoelectric peltier module to cool water or you could use 12v compressor

@chickenkeeper Feel that man, but it's always a delight to hear from someone who looks after their girls so well. People tend to think of chicken as egg and roast dinner, but you and I know they are far more than that.

The frost line where you are is probably not too deep - maybe 18" (it's over 100" up in Alaska and most of that will be frozen solid, so can you imagine digging in that? 

Even so you could still have to do far more work than that is benefited from that solution. And it would be expensive too, naturally. Heat exchangers are the future for many of us and I support the idea that, where practical, they are fitted to all new builds because it's easier to do it under the foundation than as an after fit.

@marcdraco yeah I take care of them. When I get home from work they are so happy to see you. They all rush to you see what you got 😅, they are great. But yeah I’ll look into it. See if it helps.

As an anecdote, I once used a broody (and beautiful) Buff Orpington to hatch a couple of Muscovy ducks (which are also amazing pets) and quiet too - even the drakes!

Anyway, the ducklings on day 2 or 3 after hatch went swimming in the tub of drinking water while I was watching. It's normal for ducks to swim, but the mother chicken figured they came out from under me, ergo the are chickens and ergo they can't swim. So she went crazy - pacing and clucking because she was clearly worried for their lives. Of course, the little ducklings were fine and she warmed them up like a human mother might as they hopped (happily) out.

I'm not allowed them any more since our landlord sold up and the new place is very strict on pets (they called my girls "farm animals") which I resented enormously. Not long after someone (presumably deliberately) left the run open and I think a fox took them. The sort of fox that walks upright and can climb fences, that sort of fox...