Rain water off my Chook house roof, is it okay for my chooks to drink?

[Badboychook]

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody could help me, this is the first time i have posted on this site and not 100% know what i'm doing, i'm just at the finishing stage of building my first chook house and have installed a self watering system inside for the chooks to drink from when they need to, it uses the rainwater off the metal roof and stores it in a water tank, but i wondering if this system is okay?, because even though the roof is clean it does have the odd possum & bird poo on it once and while, i have put a plastic mesh over the guttering itself....., but would this water still be good for my chickens to drink?...
any response's would be much appreciated....
Cheers

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

My birds prefer to drink from mud puddles.

 

[Wisher1000]

I have been considering the same set-up for my coop. I was thinking of putting a rain barrel at the downspout to catch the rain water off the roof which is 224+ square feet. I don't know the answer to your question, but I would guess that it would be no worse than them drinking from puddles (which happens all the time!) I will be watching for other's opinions.

Oh, and by the way

! You have found the best source for information on the web, BYC rocks!

 

[Badboychook]

Thanks for your reply's, i'm getting a little excited, because it's not long now until i get my new chooks, i'm just at the finishing stages of building the run, and then it's all go, i'm looking at getting 3 Isa Browns to start with, i've been told that they are good natured birds to start with, i'm a little worried about my Shar Pei dog i have, but the coop will be very secure, i have to spen a little bit of time introducing them first i reckon...

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Remember, all dogs are predators.

Make the run and coop as secure as you can and then watch for weaknesses that need improvement. I have had my share ....

 

[skunknchatter]

My chickens go nuts when I dump their dirty water out on the ground. They LOVE to drink the nasty muddy water with poop and sticks floating in it... weird. I would say, heck yes! To catching the water running off the coop. Why not?

 

[lynnemabry]

My girls have had mostly rain water collected off of our roof into a 500 gallon water bag. That supplied them all last summer. Right now I am using snow melt of the roof. We live with a very tight water supply and try not to waste anything. They are happy and healthy. And I am getting 4-7 eggs a day from 8 pullets.

 

[Trampledbygeese]

Quote:
I give mine almost exclusively rain water. They don't like the well water.

Could you tell me more about the system you set up? I was wondering how I could transform the rain barrels into an automated watering system.

 

[Badboychook]

Hey Trampledbygeese,
my water system is gravity fed from the rain water collected off the roof of the chook house, which travels down the guttering into a 100L water tank, which is slightly raised off the ground, then i have drilled a hole in the back of it down the bottom which around a 2inch plumbers pipe come out of the back and goes into the chook house, and off that pipe i have 4 self watering nipples that have been screwed into the pipe and siliconed to prevent any leaking, i have uploaded some pictures on here, but being new to this i'm not to sure how u get to view them?, i hope this helps

cheers

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
See my BYC page for Pics of my Coop rainwater collection that I've been using for many years. I put goldfish in the stock tank to prevent mosquitoes.