I wouldn't want them to eat the asphalt from the shingles. I have shingles on the coop and metal roof on the run. So I'm planning on only using from the metal roof. But since they are so close I want to make sure I can filter out unwanted particles.
Rain barrel for your flock?
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Oh ok, so Chickenwhispers you gave me a better idea. My barn is new and has asphalt shingles, my new coop will be built in the Spring (currently in the planning stage). My water source is up by my house, so I need drinking water for the birds and additional water for the landscape around the coop and barn, sooo....put a metal roof on the coop and attach rain barrel for drinking water, use the rain barrel attached to barn for landscape and plants. Thanks for you input!
I could do that too!! Yay!!! Jolly Good Idea!
It is illegal in some states to collect rainwater.
Really? Why?
I'm not in one of those FOOLISH states, but I bet it has to do with stagnant water and mosquito larvae. Simple solution... put a gold fish in your barrel. Now, I am in a FOOLISH state that says it's illegal to keep goldfish outside. I still have a rain barrel. And it does not have any mosquitoe larvae!
system is dbl posting again. sorry.
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My wife did an organic gardening program through Seattle Tilth (a masters gardners program) a few years ago and the word was that roof run-off from asphalt shingled roofs should not used for drinking or gardening. Too many carcinogens in the asphalt. I don't know if that would end up in the chicken eggs, but I certainly wouldn't want to force a known carcinogen upon my birds. I'm sure they pick up enough of their own free-ranging, but then that's their choice!
But what a great idea for our two unused rain barrels! We haven't used them since we moved from such a rainy area because our metal roofs don't have gutters. But it just occurred to me that at the rate that water rushes off even a small section of the roof would fill a 50-gallon barrel in no time. We used the "no-see-um" style of mosquito netting (very fine mesh, much finer than standard mosquito netting) on our rain barrels in the past and this filtered out most of the gunk.
But what a great idea for our two unused rain barrels! We haven't used them since we moved from such a rainy area because our metal roofs don't have gutters. But it just occurred to me that at the rate that water rushes off even a small section of the roof would fill a 50-gallon barrel in no time. We used the "no-see-um" style of mosquito netting (very fine mesh, much finer than standard mosquito netting) on our rain barrels in the past and this filtered out most of the gunk.
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I did rethink using the water from my ashalt roof for the chickens but did not realize it would be bad for gardening also-that's disappointing!! However I was still planning to use the run-off from my metal roof for the chickens. Can you ask your wife if there are any issues there? Thanks!
Nope, no issues with metal roofs!
Our problem here is snow and ice...very few people have gutters on their metal roofed homes around here. Just too easy to damage the gutters when a large slab of snow slides off the slick metal roof. And it rains so little here there is low issues of flooding or erosion.
Our problem here is snow and ice...very few people have gutters on their metal roofed homes around here. Just too easy to damage the gutters when a large slab of snow slides off the slick metal roof. And it rains so little here there is low issues of flooding or erosion.
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