Bleach in chicken water

[jak2002003]

I hope no one will add bleach to any animals drinking water.

Of course its poison as it will bacteria.

Would you add bleach to your drinks? No. Why? Because its not exactly good for our health to be drinking it.

If you want your chickens water containers to stay clean, keep them out of the sun and change the water daily (you should be changing the water day in any case). Any slim or algae can easily be wiped out with a cloth before you re fill with fresh water.

 

[donrae]

I hope no one will add bleach to any animals drinking water.

Of course its poison as it will bacteria.

Would you add bleach to your drinks? No. Why? Because its not exactly good for our health to be drinking it.

If you want your chickens water containers to stay clean, keep them out of the sun and change the water daily (you should be changing the water day in any case). Any slim or algae can easily be wiped out with a cloth before you re fill with fresh water.

Actually, I do add bleach to my long term water storage. It's not much, like only a half teaspoon per gallon or something small like that, don't have the exact numbers right here.

But no, I don't add bleach to my animal's water on a regular basis. They've told me they like the slime.

 

[DobermanGuy]

While it is true that bleach (sodium hypochlorite) can be used to kill a variety of bacteria, viruses and fungi, household bleach (the bleach that consumers can buy at the grocery store under brand names such as Clorox etc.) are formulated with additional chemicals to optimize them to whiten laundry and to be shelf stable. As a result, household bleach has lost much of of its germicidal efficacy. If you use Clorox Regular on the tile in your bathroom, you'll notice that mold comes back pretty quickly. That's because you are whitening the mold and not really killing it.

I designed and now sell a new chicken waterer that provides sanitary water to small flocks called the BriteTap chicken waterer. I recommend that my customers use either a 3% solution of food-grade hydrogen peroxide or a 10:1 dilution of Star-San. Star-San is a sanitizing agent used in the dairy and brewing industries. You can purchase a 4 oz bottle of Star-San at my web site ChickenWaterer.com. The 4 oz bottle will make 2 gallons of sanitizing solution when mixed with water.

You can't provide ANY studies that will back up that claim because you are WRONG...

Perhaps because you are trying to 'sell' other stuff is why you make such false claims???

Unscented Clorox is what people need to look for here.

 

[tammyfarms]

I just ran across this thread. I know this is rather late but in case anyone else is searching for an answer on bleach in poultry water, here is an article from the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service: http://disaster.ifas.ufl.edu/PDFS/CHAP06/D06-13.PDF.

 

[okieprime]

My wife gave me a old crockpot which I took out to the chicken pen. Filled it up with water and set it on low. Doesn't freeze in the winter and the chickens seem to do alright. Keep the plug-in on the outside of the pen. If you want I could send you a picture.

 

[Sissy]

Heavens No No No bleach in your animals water
This may be late for some flock owners.
but Life made changes for me and
I haven't been on the forum
for couple of years,
but as a Flock raiser for years I don't care to mention LoL
I have always used 1teaspoon apple cider vinegar
to a gal. of water for my youngsters and my oldsters
and have never lost a one.
Bleach is POISON !

 

[spuddy98]

Well, here is my opinion. Youngsters, oldsters etc. huh? I've not ever added anything to the water. It gets slimy eventually, especially if you only add water. I used to use the metal can. Tough luck in the winter. Set it on one of those $50 heaters that rot out and they work a bit. Then the chickens poop in the trough. Let me tell you that a grown chicken can sure poop over night.

I keep roughly 60-80 chickens. They move too fast to count. They are free range and I only have about 10 favorites. The rest pretty much all look the same some Americanas some New Jersey reds and some Buff Orpingtons.

Having this many chickens I need roughly 4 gallons of water most cool days and almost double that on warm days. I have tried several waterers to limit the fecal matter dropped into the water. This would be the worst problem. My chickens are free range but are locked in over night. They don't really go out in the snow either but are open to do so if they wish.

As for adding Bleach, its a good idea if you do not have chlorinated water already. There would be plenty of info available on this topic elsewhere. I have a well and was taught by my Dad (deceased old timer) to occasionally "shock" the well by adding a gallon of bleach right down the well, run water til you smell bleach then let it rest for a period in the pipes then flush til bleach odor free. Common among plumbers.

I may be misinformed but I checked the MSDS for clorox bleach. Someone mentioned "all these additional cleaners" in bleach that "whiten". Clorox is pure. 5-10% sodium Hypochlorite and a trace of lye. Yes the lye is the whitener but is less than 1% then dilute that in water with say teaspoon per gallon dropping the lye to almost non-existant. Especially if there is anything acidic in the water.

Don't know about Vinegar may try it.

Bottom line is the most important thing is to keep the fecal matter out of the water rinse them when you fill them.
(Handful of organic certified grass?? LOL)
Chickens love to roost on the edge of bowls or on top of any waterer. So if you see fecal matter in water try to stop it from getting in there. That said, I've watered with an open bowl for a long time and had the chickens still drink the water. Did have several die along the way. Thats why I want to get cleaner water.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you can raise the waterer up to chest height, that will help some. But, I'd not choose to put bleach in water for my animals. yes, city water is chlorinated, but I'll not drink that either unless it's a last resort. That's just my opinion and preference.

 

[matt44644]

I just use my well water and clean the containers out regularly .

 

[Suzie]

This is a very interesting post to me..some time ago someone on BYC advocated adding a small amount of bleach to the drinking water of chickens...I will admit that I was horrified at the thought...when the details were explained to me I saw the addition of a very small amount of bleach as not being detrimental to the health of water with bleach in it....

I followed the advice and no harm whatsoever came to my chickens...however, I now only ever use bleach to clean the slimy deposits on my waterers as I find that using bleach makes my eyes water and there is always a residue on my hands when I clean the waterers out...I rinse my hands thoroughly but the bleach takes a long time to disappear...my chickens are happy with only ACV in their water and that is the way forward for me...water containers are cleaned at least once a day Summer and Winter...slime in the water will appear here all year round.