Automatic Rainwater Harvesting Chicken Watering System

I've been thinking about doing this for a while and finally got around to doing it. Lots of benefits but the biggest is that I don't need a hose running across my yard burning my grass. I got 2 of these barrels from a car wash and they only had nontoxic soap in them so they should be ok for the garden and chickens, although I wouldnt drink it unless I had to. We have a well so water costs were not a factor but eliminating a little runoff from the coup is helpful. I was also able to use a few recycled items such as the barrel, the gutter, and the cinderblocks.

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• rainwater
• collection
• system
• harvest
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[firearms1894]

Great idea for capturing the rain water and saving potable water usage. Are you still using this set up? Thanks for sharing.

[outofworkbum]

@firearms1894 It worked great for a while but now the hose and faucet are frozen solid, I bring them out a couple of gallons of warm water now in the morning from the woodstove and call it chicken tea. The barrel is still collecting emergency water if I ever need it until it thaws out.

[ConcernedMushroom]

no algae problems in the barrel?

[hero6211]

Put something black on the barrel so you can collect heat from the sun. May help in the winter. May not be enough in the dead of winter, but it takes some serious cold for a few nights to freeze that thing thick.

[BullittMcQueen1]

I saw a chicken walking in the water pan. Could you raise up the water pan to prevent the chickens from stepping in the water? You might have to raise the water barrel a couple more feet also if you did that.

[aquabarrel]

We sell lots of rain harvesting parts. If you had turned your barrel upside down (so the drain is on the bottom) you would have even more volume in your barrel. aquabarrel . com

[outofworkbum]

@757K thanks, it's actually working pretty well so far