Rain Barrel For Drinking Water?

[incogneto]

can you please help explain this to me Mr. Aviator?

 

[HouseMouseHens]

We're building out coop right now, but were planning on getting four wine barrels (two for our house, one for the garage and one for the coop) to collect the rainwater for both watering the chickens AND watering the plants/yard. It's nice to have, especially since here in the PNW, it rains constantly in the winter, but then literally doesn't rain for four months in the summer, so you can collect it all year and use it in the summer. We plan to water the chickens with the one from the coop roof, and our shingles are just cedar shake, so no chemicals. The other three we'll mostly save for watering plants as needed and for the summer drought.

I think rainwater collection is a FANTASTIC idea. And I wouldn't worry too much about the air pollution. They are breathing the air, what would the difference be?

 

[chicksbunsdog]

I read somewhere that if you use rain barrels for collecting water for your chickens, they should be food grade so that you don't have to worry about chemicals from the plastic getting into the water. We also eventually would like to add a rain barrel to collect water for the chickens so we put a tin roof on the coop because I also read about the chemicals from the shingles being a problem.
There may be some way to treat the water as well, not really sure. I think some people add apple cider vinegar to treat algae in the water? Worth looking into.
Have to chime in, the lines in the sky behind planes are vapor trails. That's not to say there's not tons of other pollutants in the air. I think your chickens will be fine.
Good luck!

 

[Hawgon]

I used food-grade for mine but heard you can use others if cleaned very well. I decided to not take any chances and here in the NW they are pretty cheap on Craiglist. I add ACV to mine just occasionally and have had no problems with algae. I use to pieces of screen from a screen door to keep most of the gunk out of the system and reaching the nipples. I also have several couplers and valves in mine so I can remove sections or "blow out" sections of the system. I also added and seperate pipe so I can fill a bucket or rinse my hands, etc. I have been happy with it and every others week I clean out my gutter and the screens and then just use the hose to refill the drum if we have had to rain. It works well for me and I do have a polycarbonate roof on my run so no petroleum run-off. Best of luck...

 

[chicksbunsdog]

I used food-grade for mine but heard you can use others if cleaned very well. I decided to not take any chances and here in the NW they are pretty cheap on Craiglist. I add ACV to mine just occasionally and have had no problems with algae. I use to pieces of screen from a screen door to keep most of the gunk out of the system and reaching the nipples. I also have several couplers and valves in mine so I can remove sections or "blow out" sections of the system. I also added and seperate pipe so I can fill a bucket or rinse my hands, etc. I have been happy with it and every others week I clean out my gutter and the screens and then just use the hose to refill the drum if we have had to rain. It works well for me and I do have a polycarbonate roof on my run so no petroleum run-off. Best of luck...

I need a system like this one!!!!

 

[Colorado Gal]

Love the rain barrel system Hawgon! I'm looking to incorporate a rain barrel into my future turkey coop.

I looked on Craiglist and didn't find much in my area. Where else can I find cheap food-grade drums?

How have folks addressed the issue of freezing in winter?

 

[aplott2]

On my Coop I have 3 rain barrels that I rotate when they get full. We have a flexible downspout so i can move it from barrel to barrel as they fill up and in the top of the gutter we have leaf guards plus a small piece of mesh at the down spout opening in the gutter. Then I took landscape fabric (heavy duty) and wrapped around the end of the down spout then I also lay a sheet of fabric over the opening in the barrel. To help clean the water I used aquarium filters that pump the water and clean it at first but those burned up after a few months so i then got a submersible pond pump with a built in filter for small decorative ponds and just change it over to the barrel Im using to water the chickens with. Weve used it for a year and no dead or sick chickens from the water.

 

[skillman51]

I appreciate your info. I'm 66 yrs old and for my first 40 years there were no chem trails. I would ask you watch on youtube "What in the world are they spraying" If you can discredit what is said on video please let me know. It would be a huge favor to me.

 

[geraldinebrag]

I used food-grade for mine but heard you can use others if cleaned very well. I decided to not take any chances and here in the NW they are pretty cheap on Craiglist. I add ACV to mine just occasionally and have had no problems with algae. I use to pieces of screen from a screen door to keep most of the gunk out of the system and reaching the nipples. I also have several couplers and valves in mine so I can remove sections or "blow out" sections of the system. I also added and seperate pipe so I can fill a bucket or rinse my hands, etc. I have been happy with it and every others week I clean out my gutter and the screens and then just use the hose to refill the drum if we have had to rain. It works well for me and I do have a polycarbonate roof on my run so no petroleum run-off. Best of luck...

Wow, did you do it yourself? You have golden hands.