My original plan was exactly what your husband is thinking. A PVC pipe system and a small pump to keep water flowing to stop it freezing.Which rain barrel do you use?
I was following until you mentioned the hose part. Do you hook a hose up to the barrel and then fill water bowls for the chickens from the hose? So you'd have to drain the hose in the winter before turning off the valve so it doesn't freeze in there.
Some people have a PVC nipple system like the one in the photo. That's pretty interesting and something I'd really like to try to do. I'm worried about freezing water in the PVC though.
Do you have problems with algae in the summer? My husband mentioned using a pump kind of like in a fish tank.
I never implemented that and now I think I would constantly be maintaining or repairing it so I am very happy with my simpler system. I think it nets out less work.
I think this is the rain barrel I have. Water in from down pipe at the top and out at the bottom via a spigot.
I keep the spigot open and have a hose attached that has its own shut off. I hang to hose on a hook above the height of the barrel so the hose is not always completely full of water (also so I don’t have to bend down to the bottom whenever I want to fill waterers).
Good Ideas RW50-OAK Rain Wizard Rain Barrel 50 Gallon, Oak https://a.co/d/dOks2Vc