# Chicken Bridge



## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

We decided that a bridge over the water diversion ditch and a fenced entry into the back part of our huge garden area would keep us from chasing chickens all over maybe and hungry coyote from snatching a free ranging girl for lunch. Here are before and after pictures. Gramps is going to wield wire around the outside of the area and divide the garden into "theirs and ours". 1 &2 are before,3&4 are after.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Wow, that's a cool bridge!
Patti, I noticed that you have one of those 275 gallon water containers mounted up on a platform? Do you fill it with water or do you somehow catch rainwater? Another question; is it gravity fed and have a spigot/hose attached? Final question; does it require cleaning out due to algae build up or slime? Thanks for your time.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

It's 330 gallon. We have not had one bit of algea growth or slime in 2 summers. The plastic is opaque and pretty thick plus it's in the shade. We fill with a water hose from our faucet maybe 2 or 3 times in the summer. The first winter it froze the spigot and we can't find a replacement part. We're going to try and find a little smaller one soon. That one was used for car washing soap at a car wash. It was only $50. We cleaned it really good before using it. It is gravity drained with a hose into the run. We usually have a couple of 5 gallon buckets so refill the waters and clean them.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

It's been great to keep us from hauling water from the house. We're on SOWC which is our rural water supply.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Sounds like a good set up.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You and gramps do some really nice work. Once you decided to go for it it really doesn't seem like it took you long.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Thank you! I really can't take any credit, he's a work horse and loves being outside. I help when I can and keep him fed and hydrated. If he's not working on the chicken stuff, he's out clearing the woods or working in the garge where most of his tools reside. He likes doing Wha Hoo (marble game) boards to sell or give away and checker boards.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Fifty dollars is a great price that you paid Patti. I guess they have those water containers in different sizes for different applications. I've thought about getting one. I'd have to be careful though, I've seen them used by pesticide companies. My plan was to elevate it near a gutter downspout and catch rainwater off the roof of our house. The problem I was most concerned about was algae, because the container would be located in direct sunlight mainly in the afternoon. I have to think about it some more. Thanks again.
BTW, I'm surprised your not on well water.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I would love to have a well out here. We were going to have one dug in the early 90s (long story, but we had some extra $ then) but the man with a rig never showed up and that said, the water is very irony tasting here. We thought about trying to put one in just for the garden, but just have never got around to it.
We also thought about spray painting the tank black if we saw any sign of algae but haven't needed to. I asked a chicken person here what to do about it if I saw any and he told me about a product that is safe for chickens but I've forgotten what it is. If I see him at church tomorrow, I'll find what it is and post it for you.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Atwoods sells the tanks but I don't know if they are new or not and how much they charge.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I had well water when I lived in Georgia. It was a rock well, only went down about 60 feet max. After about 20 years, the well collapsed. It cost about $1200 to have new one drilled. The new one went down 240 feet deep into the aquifer, 4" casing rather than the 2" casing with the rock well. It was all sulfur water. Funny thing though, 20 miles from where I lived, a friend of mine had iron water coming from his well. I could definitely smell and taste the difference. Aerators are very popular there now. I never had an aerator, glad too.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

We might "luck out" and hit a different stream, but our neighbor across the road can empty his well in 30 min on his yard so I think he either drilled a 2nd one or uses rural water for his house and the neighbors west of us both had problems with the water quality. We also live with in approx 400 ft of a sewer lagoon.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

nannypattyrn said:


> Thank you! I really can't take any credit, he's a work horse and loves being outside. I help when I can and keep him fed and hydrated. If he's not working on the chicken stuff, he's out clearing the woods or working in the garge where most of his tools reside. He likes doing Wha Hoo (marble game) boards to sell or give away and checker boards.


Boy you really hit the jackpot with Gramps! Mine was sort of like that before his health problems. Now he shuffles around. I need to find someone else to go to the Outlets with me..


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

When people dig a well in Florida, the first question is always "any sulfur "?
In my life of house ownership, there was only one time we didn't have well water. The town put in public water because there might be contamination from the firehouse underground gas tank. Before that they wanted us to pay by the foot for the water to come down the road. But they had to do it, so all we did was pay for the water from the street to house (200ft). We had so much pressure that I could run all the sprinklers at the same time. Before that, 2 people in 2 bathrooms could not shower at the same time.

I've always had real good water. We have pretty good water here too. Not much of anything in it. I hope this well last a long time.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I love good well water. My grandmother had one to her house that I loved to drink right from the hose. We had a well in one of the town we lived in when our son was born that was very ironish. His diapers were dingy all the time. I tried bleaching them an it turned them orange. Poor thing always looked like no one ever cleaned him.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've only lived in one place with iron water. The trick I found was using Rit color remover for getting that dingy coloring out. 

We had good well water in the N. GA. Mtns. The well water in TN was OK but nothing like we had in GA. From what I've seen from other wells in this area iron could be an issue. Right now we have city water that has quite a bit of calcium in it. I'm going to have to think on that for a while, get the old well running again? Or put a filter on the house to remove the calcium?


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I lucked out when I bought this place,it has city water.The pressure bites and it has a strong chlorine odor when you first turn it on.I was single when I bought this place and knew nothing about wells,cisterns and septic tanks,so I tried to avoid them when looking for "my country dream home".(Tho, I have a septic tank-you can't have everything!)I do know I have hard water and get a $40 bill every month,2 things you don't get with more "natural" water.


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