Hello, I've read a few posts on here about using rain water for chickens, but nothing really that matches my setup and wanted to get some opinions.
I've had chickens now for 2 years and have been using this setup fine, but I want to make sure I minimize any risks after seeing some good info around other posts here or just stuff I've considered.
I have 2 food grade blue 55 gallon drums that are hooked up together. Metal chicken coop/run roof runs to metal gutter and then down a flexible plastic downspout to the first barrel. There is a screen over the barrel to catch any debris from going inside. And there is an overflow on the 2nd barrel for extra water to run away from the coop.
I've run into some algae problems in the past with how much sun the barrel gets and how long the water stays in there if I'm not needing to water the garden with it as much. I've made sure not to give the chickens that water and then cleaned the tanks out. I've considered tossing some brass in there this year to help with that and maybe painting the barrels white? I've seen some people add goldfish to their tanks, but not sure giving the chickens soiled water is a good idea. I've seen many people comment that the chickens drink out of their duck ponds and such, but that's probably not an every day main source of water situation.
But anyway my main question is, does anyone have a setup like this and is there a way I can make this safer for my chickens to avoid parasites, bird droppings, etc? I didn't really think about that when I set this up. Just keeping them away from our city drinking water (which they still get in the winter because I don't have the tanks heated) for price, convenience, and quality. Should I be filtering this water with like an RO system? Maybe just some ACV when we fill their 5 gallon watering bucket? I know some people toss a small dash of bleach in rainwater instead, but that worries me with it being, you know, bleach lol.
Sorry for the long post
I've had chickens now for 2 years and have been using this setup fine, but I want to make sure I minimize any risks after seeing some good info around other posts here or just stuff I've considered.
I have 2 food grade blue 55 gallon drums that are hooked up together. Metal chicken coop/run roof runs to metal gutter and then down a flexible plastic downspout to the first barrel. There is a screen over the barrel to catch any debris from going inside. And there is an overflow on the 2nd barrel for extra water to run away from the coop.
I've run into some algae problems in the past with how much sun the barrel gets and how long the water stays in there if I'm not needing to water the garden with it as much. I've made sure not to give the chickens that water and then cleaned the tanks out. I've considered tossing some brass in there this year to help with that and maybe painting the barrels white? I've seen some people add goldfish to their tanks, but not sure giving the chickens soiled water is a good idea. I've seen many people comment that the chickens drink out of their duck ponds and such, but that's probably not an every day main source of water situation.
But anyway my main question is, does anyone have a setup like this and is there a way I can make this safer for my chickens to avoid parasites, bird droppings, etc? I didn't really think about that when I set this up. Just keeping them away from our city drinking water (which they still get in the winter because I don't have the tanks heated) for price, convenience, and quality. Should I be filtering this water with like an RO system? Maybe just some ACV when we fill their 5 gallon watering bucket? I know some people toss a small dash of bleach in rainwater instead, but that worries me with it being, you know, bleach lol.
Sorry for the long post
Last edited:
