Does anyone use a rain barrel?

[Marlinchaser]

If you have a solid barrel(no light gets through) it should not turn green. If you free range chickens will drink out of mudd puddles, so I would still allow them to drink water off roof. Animals drink water from algea infested, rain runoff filled ponds all the time, so unless your putting something into the barrels other than the rain water it is fine for your chickens. Have you ever seen the mudddy dirty water that a duck drinks?? If rain water was bad for fowl we would have no surviveing ducks.

 

[frugalhsmom]

We have a set up near the rear of our house. The gutter has been diverted to fill it. All the water runs through a screen on the top which filters out misc particles off the roof and also keeps mosquitos out. I get water for the chickens and can run a hose to the garden as well. Drip irrigation runs really well off them. I have a faucet about 12 inches from the bottom to fill waterers and the water has been clean so far. The barrels are blue so no algae growth. We had one and ended up connecting another to it for runoff about 2 mos ago. Now they are both full. I am wondering how many I can add before it starts looking really tacky. They are sitting right on the ground near our back deck.

I did purchase ours as it seemed impossible to get them locally. They were used to import olives and sold at a website in the midwest. The barrels were on sale at the time and I paid $89 for them shipped. They are 63 gallon barrels. If you want the website, let me know.

 

[hillcountrychickens]

I do have rain barrels. Eventually, the water gets funky .. I don't use it for my animals, just plants and a small pond. I think it would make them sick -- bacteria...

 

[muddler6]

Quote:
After looking at this one, my penny pinching mind went to work, I have a sturdy gabage can that if I invert the lid so it makes a dish on top of the can, use a hole saw to cut a 2 inch hole in the center of the lid, epoxy some fine screen material to keep out the critters and attach a faucet low on the side. I could make one like this a lot cheaper (it might not be as good looking, but that doesn't matter to me). While I am talking about my cheapness (and garbage cans), I also took an old garbage can that the wind took the lid from and a small hole had worn into the bottom of, and flipped it upside down, cut the bottom out about on inch from the edge all the way around and drilled a bunch of 1 inch holes all around the outside, instant compost container. It does a better job than the fancy expensive one a friend bought, hated, and gave to me (I still use it for long term compost like small sticks and manure) I need to figure out a diverter for the rain barrel though. I do have a blue food grade barrel that a friend gave me, he got it from a local reserve unit for free (it is good to have connections).

 

[CityChook]

I know this post is sort of old, but I wanted to add a little more information....

In an effort to be a little less wasteful, I placed a rain barrel on the corner of my 100 year old home, next to my veggie garden. It is handmade using a wooden Kentucky whiskey barrel. With the exception of frequently smelling like the morning after a frat party, I love it.

I wanted to put another one next to my new coop since there is no water close by.

However, there are some questions about roofing materials and toxicity of the water running off of them.

Well, after reading the info below from the U of M, which is both pro and con, I still feel that a rain barrel is a positive thing, but I'll pass on using the water for my chickens and save it for the flower gardens. I believe pretty strongly in taking in all the information available and making the best decision for my specific situation. Since I do not have a metal or tile roof, the run off could potentially be toxic, particularly in the early spring. Without doing a water test, I'd hate to feed it to my chickens and make them sick.

Better safe than sorry I think. Just my $.02 -

http://home.comcast.net/~leavesdance/rainbarrels/safety.html

 

[tiki244]

Glad you posted CityChook, this is the first time I saw this and I just read through the whole thread, very good information

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I know the topic is rain barrel but I have seen compost tumbler and others things listed on here too...here is my compost tumbler...my husband made it out of a metal drum..

Here is my rain barrel..bought it off ebay 2 years ago...

worm bin againt the fence..also off ebay 2 years ago..

 

[rroven]

Quote:
Awesome idea! I have 2 food grade water barrels and living in SC we have plenty of squigglers. I'm going to get me some goldfish tomorrow!