In an effort to be good stewards of our resources, and to keep our water bill low :), we decided that when we moved in, we would install some rain barrels. After experiencing big rain storms here, we decided that the old-school “turn a trash can into a barrel” wasn’t going to cut it. We found a very helpful man on Craigslist, selling and delivering (woohoo), 200+gallon foodgrade containers. Even though we won’t be using this water for human consumption, we will be using it to water the plants, and possibly the animals, so we wanted to ensure that NO chemical had been used in the containers. When he dropped them off, we quickly learned that they had been used to house Sugar Water. Yum! However, if you know anything about bacteria and bugs, this would be an excellent breeding ground. So, after a good powerwashing on the inside, they were ready to go!
Plans for construction were delayed a bit, when I threw a wrench in Hubby’s agenda by purchasing goats a few weeks ago, but now that they are settled, he was back on track.
Our helpers:
Hubby decided to rig up the Chicken Coop first. This would be our test project, then move onto the big barn once we worked out the kinks. The Chicken Coop is a converted 12 x 12 horse barn with tack room, so it’s pretty deluxe for our girls. However, it was still missing gutters. So, first hubby had to put up a gutter system on the front and back. The back was easy since it’s a straight shot.
The front, however, now has a very long, covered extension on it for the chickens “run”. This made attaching the gutters somewhat of a feat. Nothing Hubby couldn’t handle.
Once it was attached, we had to hook up the extensions.
A few weeks ago, Hubby built a platform for the collection container.
After fixing that problem, everything else went great. We hooked up the accordion extensions into one main spout. This was affixed to the top of the collection container. He also put in an overflow valve which we will hook a hose up to, and run into the woods. As well as a main spigot, to hook a hose to, for gardening. The container came with an on/off valve.
So now we wait for rain… I can’t wait to let you know how it works!! Hopefully, if you ever do one, you aren’t out in the dark working under the lights of a car’s head lights, like we did…but if you are, know that it can be done.