This was posted today by Nutrena and we wanted to share! Rain Barrels For The Chicken Coop

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The photo shows our Moby 65 gallon rain barrel and an Ivy 50 gallon rain barrel linked together and some of our chickens!

Here is the direct link if you want to subscribe, I did.

http://scoopfromthecoop.nutrenaworld.com/rain-barrels-for-the-chicken-coop/

Many backyard chicken coops share an annoying problem. They’re located a distance from a water source. Hauling buckets of heavy water from the house to the chickens is time consuming work. Plus, water costs money, whether you buy water from a municipality or pay for electricity to run a pump.

There’s a simple solution.  Rain barrels harvest and hold the water that nature provides for free.     A single rain barrel typically holds enough water to fill a five gallon chicken waterer upwards of a dozen times. Even droughts produce occasional showers and most people are astonished to learn how quickly a light rain falling on a small roof fills the barrel.

For example a half-inch rain falling on the 250-square-foot roof of a modest sized chicken coop harvests 78 gallons of water – more than most rain barrels hold. That water is clean, fresh, and free.

 According to Lynn Ruck, owner of Rain Barrel Solutions in Apex, North Carolina, water coming off metal or asphalt roofs is safe for small animals to drink.  Only water coming from wooden roofs treated with preservatives shouldn’t be given to animals. Rain barrel water is also ideal for irrigating garden plants.

Position your rain barrel just outside the coop where the most water comes off the roof or under a downspout. This puts water only a few feet from where the hens need it. Remember that a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds, so a filled rain barrel will weigh up to 400 pounds. Be certain it is secure and sits on a flat, level surface. Positioning it on a few cinder blocks makes it easier to draw water out of the tap at the base.

Dozens of rain barrels are on the market or they can be made at home. Good rain barrels are made of opaque material that keeps water dark to prevent algae growth and have a secure lid to keep animals or children from falling in. The lid has holes covered with mosquito netting to allow water to enter from gutter downspouts but prevent entry by insects and debris. A hose tap near the bottom makes it easy to fill buckets or attach a hose.

City of Santa Monica Rain Barrel Rebate Program

Rebate up to $200 per rain barrel w/maximum of 2 per downspout; 8 barrels per property

Eligibility - property owner (resident, institution or business) in the City of Santa Monica and any tenant of said property with the permission of the owner.

Eligibility

All properties in Santa Monica are eligible, with the exception of new construction, major remodels.

Front yards, back yards, side yards, and parkways are eligible for this rebate.

Requirements

Submit “before” photo and receipts. Include address and contact info. Email to savewater@smgov.net, or mail to:

Rain Harvest Rebate
City of Santa Monica
200 Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Failure to provide photos and receipts may disqualify you from receiving rebate funding.

Call or email to schedule an inspection. 310-458-8972 x3 or savewater@smgov.net

All rainwater storage systems must:
a.  Be connected to a rainwater downspout;
b.  Not block or restrict access to walkways or pathways;
c.  Be elevated at least 6 inches above the ground on a solid foundation, such as a concrete pad, pavers or blocks (this provision provides stability and pressure to get the water out faster);
d.  Have a cover to prevent mosquitoes, rodents, and debris from entering;
e.  Be maintained for a minimum of 3 years.

Cisterns that are connected to a pressurized irrigation system require a single-trade plumbing permit from the Building & Safety Division located at City Hall.

Rebate application:

http://www.smgov.net/departments/ose/categories/form.aspx?ekfrm=34095

Cedar Park, TX - Rain Water Solutions partnered with Cedar Park and Round Rock to supply the Ivy Rain Barrel to their citizens at a greatly reduced price. The one day event distributed almost 1,000 rain barrels. It was a great success.

Let us help you bring Ivy Rain Barrels to your community. Be sure to visit www.rainbarrelprogram.org and let us take all the confusion and hassle out your rain barrel program. We are here to help! Contact us at info@rainwatersolutions.com.

Read the local press: http://bit.ly/UCo8bb

Air conditioner condensation is a great source of water on these hot muggy days. Think about it: we are using a lot of energy to generate cool air and the by-product is pure water, literally pulled from the air. And what do we do with this pure water? We let it run down the drain. Here in the muggy southeast humidity can be very high so in order to cool the air the moisture must be taken from the air by condensing it.

At our shop in Raleigh our AC unit is on the roof and I went up there on a hot day in early June. The AC unit was buzzing along and water poured out a small pipe and meandered across the roof to a drain. I was curious to find out if it was worth saving.

We set up a simple catch basin and ran a pipe to the edge of the building then set up a Moby rain barrel to hold our water. We have a small garden at the shop and up until this point we had been bringing rainwater from home to keep the garden growing.

We now have more water than we need for our small garden. Lynn set up a solar pump on the barrel to facilitate getting water to where we needed it. We are even using the excess water to keep the grass green along Atlantic Avenue. The next step is to set up a gravity fed drip irrigation system that will work as the barrel overflows. 

The floods of 2008 continue to be one of the worst natural disasters in the past 30 years of American history. Floodwaters covered 14% of the city and displaced 10,000 residents. Although the city has made significant progress in rebuilding, a complete recovery is not expected for another decade. Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and one of few cities in the world with governmental offices on a municipal island. 

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Oakland's watershed is comprised of 15 main creeks, 30 tributaries, Lake Merritt and the Bay estuary. In 2009 Lake Merritt was listed as an impaired water body due to organic enrichment/low dissolved oxygen and high levels of trash. The trash primarily enters the lake through urban runoff and storm sewers. Once the water body or segment is listed as impaired, the state is required by the Clean Water Act to establish Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the pollutant causing the conditions of impairment. 

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THE NATURAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND  

Raleigh, N.C., August 15, 2011–-With most of North Carolina baking under dry skies, every drop of rain that falls on your roof is worth saving – and a local company hopes to make that possible. With a community development loan, Rain Water Solutions is ramping up efforts to market “IVY,” an easy-to-use rain barrel, with a deep green color, 50-gallon capacity and affordable price tag.

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Breast cancer is an indiscriminate disease that strikes thousands of women and men every year. It doesn’t care about race, religion, or zip code.  We have decided to produce a limited number of pink rain barrels to raise money for the cause. For each pink rain barrel we sell, 50% of the proceeds go directly to Y-Me.org, also known as the Breast Cancer Network of Strength. No one should have to face this disease alone. Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization is the only place in the world where someone can call – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and talk to a breast cancer survivor and be understood in 150 languages.

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We get the question all the time – “so I have to drive a big honking SUV and use a bunch of gas to come get my rain barrel to save water?”
No.
Moby will fit easily into the back seat of almost any car. Check out the new images on Facebook showing how easily Moby will travel.
Stay tuned. We have some really good shots we have taken over the years of the many modes of transport used to get Moby home. We will be posting them in the following days.
Happy New Year!
Mike
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