Great idea adding the fence between the plants and water! I put a pond in my coop and the chickens ate all my plants 🤦♀️ I definitely recommend adding a screen an inch or two under water, or some rocks/steps for them to climb out if they fall in. Chickens drown really easily and like to fly/fall into stock tanks for some reason. *edited for clarity
Would add a concrete block or something similar, would not use wire of any kind. Wire would work great at first but would need to be replaced annually or more often unless it was stainless steel.
Reminds me of how i used to have a cat water setup with a beta fish and a pothos ivy...wasn't planned, but both the cat and beta fish enjoyed it and lived long healthy lives.
I understand the concept, i built mini ponds back in the day, but mini ponds need more maintenance than big ponds, im using your second option with a Diy easy clean attachment, i also hate watering chickens with a passion 😂. I have a video up on my diy attachment for the animal waterer, i clean it in less than 30 seconds.
Hell yes Eric! I’m loving it!!! Don’t comment hardly ever but have been a follower for a bit since Billy spoke about ya! ❤ from Kristy in Missouri zone 6b 😃🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
This is cool, but will probably yield mosquitos. They do make a couple of types of red plastic waterers that are proportional to chickens and get much less dirty
@@EricSeider will do, would be good to see how your set-up fairs over time too. Good ideas-experimentation-better ideas. Im in Australia and rely on chooks for eggs, we eat a lot of eggs here. I have a dam with sedges around it - i am going to use some for this.
@lachlanscanlan5621 so far so good, water clarity is still good. Occasional algae build up but the plants are filling in. I think an ideal setup would be not allowing the chickens to perch on the rim so they don’t poop in the water but the pond ecosystem takes care of it eventually. You could utilize the manure load by adding shrimps and other crustaceans.
Looks great! Just wondering if some predators, such as snakes, will be able to get through the fencing as the wire grid size is much larger then chicken wire? Thanks for sharing.
I can list what I know but specifics aren’t necessary, I just used the plants I found locally growing wild. You want half of the container filled with plants. And some type of little fish to eat mosquito larvae. What I have for plants: Bulrush, Water primrose , Water plantain, Water iris, Azolla, Duckweed, Water hyacinth, Water lily, Eel grass Fish: mosquito fish Cheers
Thanks. As long as the pond ecosystem stays in tact it will go on. You’d probably need to thin out the plants occasionally, if it gets real cold in winter then you’d need a solution for the water freezing.
Maybe adding some large chicken wire over the top where the chickens drink from then adding some fish to help clean the bowl could be a great addition to ensuring a sanitary basin? That way the fish aren't getting pecked at or getting snatched by raccoons
Mosquito fish are tiny so it would have to be one skilled raccoon. Water snails and other crustaceans clean most of the debris more than fish generally.
This looks amazing! Do you get winter? here in Canada, I'm wondering what would happen when this freeze is over. would you have to replace the plants every year?
We have very mild winters here, if you source your plants locally they should come back in the spring, if you can keep the pond from freezing solid that would definitely help. But you will need a winter solution for water for sure or a way to keep the water from freezing. Best of luck.
Depending on how cold it gets, there are some low energy methods to keeping the water from freezing. Otherwise you’d need an alternative source of water for the winter.
Yeah that would be an issue, the pond ecosystem would go dormant as well. You could have an alternative method for the winter if it wasn’t a lot of extra work.
As long as all the plants and organisms in the pond are local and it doesn’t freeze solid it should all bounce back in the spring. You could partially bury it and put a plastic cover over the top like a mini greenhouse to help it from freezing.
@VaderisOne ideal if they have a few hours of direct sun or partial shade. But as long as the plants are growing it should work. It’s really about the nutrient load in the water you’re asking the plants to process. The chickens manure into the water so the plants need to process more nutrients. For your goat trough if they’re not making a mess in the water you won’t need the plants to do as much work.
