algae smell in water container...

[seanb]

My water set up for our birds consists of a plasic 5 gallon water cooler jug turned upside down in a 5 gallon bucket with slots cut out at the bottom. It works well but we get that funky stagnant pond algae smell with it.

First off, will this harm the chickens?

And is it safe to rinse out the bottles with clorox from time to time?

Anyone else dealing with this issue?

Thanks.

 

[sourland]

I doubt that this causes a problem, but I rinse all water containers once a week with a 10% Chlorox solution.

 

[4 the Birds]

Whenever you have sunlight and water.... algae will form. If your water cooler bottles were covered or something other than clear then you will keep algae away. Perhaps a coat of paint on the bottles? Place them in the shade? I just set out metal dog bowl pans of water in the run for our chickens and wipe/refill each day. During the cold months, their water stays in the coop.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

If your waterer is all plastic try adding three tablespoons of vinegar to the gallon of water. This will deter the algae growth and other forms of bio-film (slime) and maybe deter pathogenic microbial growth as well.