Rainwater good or not ?

[TennesseeChicken]

We have an in-ground swimming pool that has a set-up where it collects all of the water from the roof of the house when it rains. No swimming! LOL That is our 'cistern' and all of our animals get their water from that. Then our greenhouse was built over the pool. There is a cover over the pool and we do aerate the water on occasion with a free-flow form to keep oxygen levels up. It's clean and doesn't seem to hurt the animals. When the pool gets low because of no rain, then we slowly fill it from our well. We have a system of water lines and sumps that go to all of our pastures so no matter where we put the animals, we have access to water. Works out pretty darned good!

 

[Kjordanov]

We have an in-ground swimming pool that has a set-up where it collects all of the water from the roof of the house when it rains.  No swimming!  LOL  That is our 'cistern' and all of our animals get their water from that.  Then our greenhouse was built over the pool.  There is a cover over the pool and we do aerate the water on occasion with a free-flow form to keep oxygen levels up.  It's clean and doesn't seem to hurt the animals.  When the pool gets low because of no rain, then we slowly fill it from our well.  We have a system of water lines and sumps that go to all of our pastures so no matter where we put the animals, we have access to water.  Works out pretty darned good!

Interesting! We also have a cistern but it's not as nice of a set up as yours, we have to haul water from town and fill the cistern. To water animals in the summer we pump water from our dugout for them.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I sure hope its fine, my chickens prefer puddles over their water in their waterer! They eat snow too for water. While they're at it, they should eat a path to the barn, so I don't have to shovel.

 

[Kjordanov]

Haha chicks galore3!

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Haha chicks galore3!

What?

 

[hockeydad6791]

My birds are the same way I constantly give them fresh water in their coop but they won't touch it if the weather is nice enough for them to travel to their favorite puddle or the creek. I have a natural spring well for the house so it's the same water as in the creek. At first it bothered me but I notice that the cats and dogs do the same thing. So if it makes them happy why not.

 

[Crazy Chick]

I try to use fresh rain water as often as I can!! Just don't let it sit around for too long or Mosquitos will get into it and make sure that you don't collect it off of a roof or gutters. Just put a big bucket in the middle of your yard or a big clear space.

 

[Hawgon]

I built a rain-water collection system off my coop for my chickens and they like it but the "love" the closest, nastiest puddle more.....lol I have 2 screen filters for big debris, add some ACV every now and rinse off the roof panels every week or 2. The water looks and smells fine and I have been using this system since last spring. Have never had a clogged nipple (sounds weird..lol) or problems with it and with the extra "tap" I put on it I can rinse towels or even wash my hands if I need. I did move the nipple to under the coop just so we could reach the nest boxes easier.

 

[TennesseeChicken]

I sure hope its fine, my chickens prefer puddles over their water in their waterer! They eat snow too for water. While they're at it, they should eat a path to the barn, so I don't have to shovel.

LOL!! I saw my chickens eating snow this morning! There was hardly any on the ground, but it was there. I have had to shovel so they would come out of the coop!

 

[TennesseeChicken]

I try to use fresh rain water as often as I can!! Just don't let it sit around for too long or Mosquitos will get into it and make sure that you don't collect it off of a roof or gutters. Just put a big bucket in the middle of your yard or a big clear space.

If you set it up correctly and cover the water, you won't have a mosquito problem. Never had a problem collecting rainwater off of the roof.