Rain water collected in a barrel.... which filter do I use ?

[mimineII]

We are building our coop in two weeks and we want to use rainwater collected in a barrel for our hens. I was wondering if rain water should be ok and if we need a filter.... If yes, which one ? We don't know nothing about this. Thanks for your help.

 

[bugflipper]

No need for a filter. Rain water is cleaner than water on the ground, say in a pond or creek.
Good Luck

 

[mimineII]

awesome ! Thanks !

 

[donrae]

The water as it leaves the clouds is pure and fine to drink. What it hits after it leaves the cloud and before you drink it is a whole nother story. Where are you collecting the water from? A roof, etc is not considered safe to drink as is. Here's a decent looking site with good info--otherwise I just googled "filtering rainwater for drinking" and hit lots of good info.

Now, I've seen my birds drink some horribly foul water from puddles, etc and they've been just fine. In fact, they seem to prefer it

. But it's usually manure-enriched water, so not really anything they wouldn't ingest anyway. Water off a roof, on the other hand.....ick.

 

[captop]

I use cheesecloth to just strain out the pine needles and other particles from getting into the water barrel itself and occasionally change it out. Not so much a mold worry (though there is that) but I just didn't want anything to clog up the nipple waterers.