Water Butt Water!!

[Beckybex]

Hello. Our lovely girls are shortly to move to their new home which is bigger, but even further away from the house! Does anyone think it might be o.k to use water from a water butt for them, or should we stick to tap water? We're thinking of installing a water butt next to the summer house which is much nearer.

[Snadger]

I have a water butt placed in the run fed from the water off the coop roof.

It's kept covered all the time and in over a year I don't think my chooks have ever tasted mains water. It's easily accessible too!

Mine thrive on it!

[RichmondHens]

It's fine as long as it's always fairly fresh. Don't give stagnant water. I put water out in various containers for my free rangers (usually tap water) but they seek out puddles after a rainfall in preference.

[kirsty b]

Mine drink a mixture of rainwater and tap water. They seem fine, and like puddles too!!

[OllieMartin]

Feed them vinegar, saves pickling the eggs



...where did I put my coat?

[terrier]

I put two trugs out for my horse, one containing tap water, one containing ground water(from a well), he wouldn't touch the tap water and drank all the ground water. I tried it on the dogs, same there, they preferred the ground water. As for the chooks, it doesn't matter what I put out, they make their own arrangements finding the dirtiest, smelliest water they can find. If I put tap water out for the cats, they look at me as if I'm trying to poison them. I'm sure they know something us mere humans don't!

[terrier]

I bet they'd have a job to flouridate rain water

[Hilary B]

If you live where the mains water has flouride added, that is what you get. Don't know where 'compulsory' comes in? You get what is put in the pipes!

[Snadger]

If you live where the mains water has flouride added, that is what you get. Don't know where 'compulsory' comes in? You get what is put in the pipes!

Thats what Bilbo said diddled she?

[Bramble-Poultry]

not wishing to throw petrol on a fire, but has anyone considered the bio security of allowing your birds to drink from water that has run off a roof into a water butt, the same roof that may have come into contact with wild birds?

i'm thinking worm eggs, parasites and possibly avain influenza come the autumn?

Just a thought. If you have come across that thought and solved the problem let me know as it would save me hours of bucket runs to the tap.

[Hilary B]

not wishing to throw petrol on a fire, but has anyone considered the bio security of allowing your birds to drink from water that has run off a roof into a water butt, the same roof that may have come into contact with wild birds?

i'm thinking worm eggs, parasites and possibly avain influenza come the autumn?

Just a thought. If you have come across that thought and solved the problem let me know as it would save me hours of bucket runs to the tap.

If you have power, maybe invest in a 'Green genie' or similar? They are sold for filtering the water in the goldfish pond, a UV treatment stage should hit the bacteria, then a series of 'sponge' filters removes most impurities.
We use one for the rainwater supply in Spain, pumped through the Green Genie into a header tank which feeds the taps. It uses a tiny amount of power (I think it is 8W). We buy drinking water, but use the tap water for all washing purposes, including teeth cleaning.
The pump and the filter are on a shared switch. 2 mins fills a 50 litre tank.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Gonna have to look one of those up - they sound cool

[Snadger]

If you have power, maybe invest in a 'Green genie' or similar? They are sold for filtering the water in the goldfish pond, a UV treatment stage should hit the bacteria, then a series of 'sponge' filters removes most impurities.
We use one for the rainwater supply in Spain, pumped through the Green Genie into a header tank which feeds the taps. It uses a tiny amount of power (I think it is 8W). We buy drinking water, but use the tap water for all washing purposes, including teeth cleaning.
The pump and the filter are on a shared switch. 2 mins fills a 50 litre tank.

Didn't David Bowie make a song about one of those.........

[Bramble-Poultry]

having looked into the green genie (basically a pond filter) the UV strength is good enough to work on clearing the algae cells from the water, but it IS NOT strong enough to destroy bacteria.

For this you need a UV steriliser, whereas the Green Genie is a UV Clarifier. Marine fish keepers use STERILISERS, and they are small units, with a slow pass rate (to capture all i assume) and as it has the word "marine" in it are about three times the price! The bulbs are £20 each and need changing every 3 months!

So my question is this then, if a green genie can remove the ammonia based waste in the water, such as poo and leaves etc which makes it chemically safe to drink, i suppose i will need to permanantly aggitate the water (stagnant water breeds bacteria such a legionaires disease etc and mosquito larvae) with a pump or similar, i purchase a power full UV Steriliser and hook that up to the mains as well, wouldnt it be easier and safer all round to use the tap?

[Hilary B]

having looked into the green genie (basically a pond filter) the UV strength is good enough to work on clearing the algae cells from the water, but it IS NOT strong enough to destroy bacteria.

For this you need a UV steriliser, whereas the Green Genie is a UV Clarifier. Marine fish keepers use STERILISERS, and they are small units, with a slow pass rate (to capture all i assume) and as it has the word "marine" in it are about three times the price! The bulbs are £20 each and need changing every 3 months!

So my question is this then, if a green genie can remove the ammonia based waste in the water, such as poo and leaves etc which makes it chemically safe to drink, i suppose i will need to permanantly aggitate the water (stagnant water breeds bacteria such a legionaires disease etc and mosquito larvae) with a pump or similar, i purchase a power full UV Steriliser and hook that up to the mains as well, wouldnt it be easier and safer all round to use the tap?

If it isn't the solution for you, OK, it isn't, it was 'just a thought'. It works for OUR needs in Spain. That isn't to say it is right for everyone.
The other option is to keep an eel in the water to eat mosquito larvae. If the water was truly stagnant it wouldn't be any use for an eel either, but unless you deliberately leave the contents undisturbed over long periods, I can't see it being that static.
The Cisterna in Spain is several cubic metres (estimates are up to 35), and underground with a wooden lid. Every time it rains, the water gets SOME stirring up.
At the end of the day, if you prefer to continue carrying water from the tap, that is up to you.