Rainwater Watering System Question

[NewBoots]

I've seen designs for rainwater catch systems that use water collected from the coop rain gutter. Stored in a plastic barrel then fed down through pvc pipes to nipples for the chickens to drink. I like the idea and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with those systems? Or plan to set one up?How happy are you with them if you have?

My main concern is that the water will go slimy or green in the barrel and I wouldn't want to drink that either.

So, what do you think?

 

[azygous]

I absolutely love the idea, and I would give anything to be able to do it.

You would need to add one more barrel at the end as a filtering step. It's not complicated and works by gravity, the contaminated water gets purified by filtering down through layers of charcoal and pea gravel and sand, all automatically. Lots of videos showing how it works and how to set it all up.

 

[NewBoots]

See I've also thought about setting up cisterns for storing water for the garden and emergencies as well. It's on my long term list. Maybe after the greenhouse.

 

[Acre4Me]

Sounds great! Pretty sure green and slimy happen only with light exposure, so keep out the sun and for sure, you will keep out the green at least!

Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Another potential issue is that if mosquitoes can get to the water it can become a mosquito breeding ground. So make sure it is sealed from mosquitoes or you can get "dunks", should be available at the feed store. Dunks will not harm chickens or your garden.

 

[centrarchid]

If you can not effectively shade the surface, then consider stocking with some sort of duckweed and some small fish that will consume mosquito larvae. Here, at least 3/4 of water surface needs to be covered by duckweed to control the algae. There are multiple species of duckweed so be careful not to use an invasive species of it.

 

[msmeg26]

I absolutely love the idea, and I would give anything to be able to do it.

You would need to add one more barrel at the end as a filtering step. It's not complicated and works by gravity, the contaminated water gets purified by filtering down through layers of charcoal and pea gravel and sand, all automatically. Lots of videos showing how it works and how to set it all up.

See I was thinking it'd need some sort of biofilter or something... Still hunting for ideas myself...