Apple Cider Vinegar and hens

[Smorz]

I read that chickens aren't like dogs - they won't gorge themselves, and that free feeding as much as they take is fine. Ours (previous flock years ago) eat much more when they don't free range, obviously.

 

[suellen123]

That's very true. I have a 50 lb bag of floating duck pellet food that is huge and a bag of egg layer pellets that is almost 1/3 a size of the other bag so I get your point. A lot of us don't have or use scales though and it would be nice if they indicated on the bag what the feeding requirement was.

 

[tridentk9]

To use 'Bleach Disinfecting Spray".  First wash out your waterier. Use a brush if there is any 'slime' in the waterier, rinse. Then spray the bleach disinfectant on all surfaces.  Let set a few minutes, then rinse all the bleach back off before filling the waterier with clean fresh water for the chickens.  

Don't use a ready made commercially sold bleach spray product.  Use the disinfectant recipe below in a spray bottle.  Oh, use non-scented bleach, trust me scented bleach can leave a taste that's hard to get rid of.  To get rid of the taste you have to allow the utensil to 'air' to make the taste go away.  Nothing quite like fake lemon flavored alfalfa sprouts.  Uuugh...

Bleach to water ratio for disinfectant (use old style non-concentrated bleach):
1/2 Cup Bleach per Gallon of water
or
1 1/2 teaspoons bleach per cup of water

Put needed amount of bleach for recipe in a spray bottle, add water.  Attach spray bottle top.  Shake. Label bottle.  Ready for use.

Once diluted, bleach is only effective for 24 hours. You need to make your solution fresh daily.

For cleaning things before disenfecting (most disinfectants don't work in presence of organic material) Simple Green is effective and fairly safe.

 

[Chris09]

A lot of us don't have or use scales though and it would be nice if they indicated on the bag what the feeding requirement was.

What feed are you feeding?

 

[evemfoster]

Once diluted, bleach is only effective for 24 hours. You need to make your solution fresh daily.

For cleaning things before disenfecting (most disinfectants don't work in presence of organic material) Simple Green is effective and fairly safe.

How easy does Simple Green wash off. Wondering if it hangs on like soap needing a good scrub to get it all off.

 

[tridentk9]

How easy does Simple Green wash off.  Wondering if it hangs on like soap needing a good scrub to get it all off. 

It rinses off very easily.

FYI- Do not use pine-sol, lysol or similar products. Very bad news for cats, bad news for dogs and pretty much any other living thing.

 

[suellen123]

Its Egg Layer in a granulated form. I dump the bag into a container so I don't have it handy to tell you exactly. When I get my next bag I can answer that exactly.

 

[Chris09]

Its Egg Layer in a granulated form. I dump the bag into a container so I don't have it handy to tell you exactly. When I get my next bag I can answer that exactly.

If you post the brand name and type of feed that will help a lot.

 

[SlowQueen]

Hi there!
If it's the heat you're worried about you might want to try an vitamin/electrolyte mix. I've read that ACV helps with birds in warm weather but after reading all the feedback here I'm sticking to what I'm using now. It doesn't help with keeping the water clean but it does help with overheating. It's been ridiculously hot where I am in south Florida. I picked up a bag of an electrolyte/vitamin mix from my local feed store at the recommendation of the lady that handles the chicks over there and she advised me to put the smallest pinch in the water or otherwise they might not drink it. So far, so good!

 

[GardenFae]

Yeah, I did a mix of electrolyte water the other day and they didn't seem to like it at all. Silly birds...

As far as cleaning goes, I splash ACV in occasionally but have noticed it only retards bacterial growth for a few days, and since I empty my birds' 1-gallon waterer and refill fresh daily anyway, it's not really worth the trouble for me to use ACV. Usually I dump, rinse bedding/feed out of the waterer base with a jet from the hose, and give it a quick swipe with my finger to check for slime before refilling. Any slime gets thoroughly cleaned out with the hose jet and every 5-7 days I take the waterer inside for a deep scrub with extra-hot water. The extra cleaning once a week is less inconvenient than having to measure out ACV into the water every day and the daily rinse and refill takes care of any daily build-up or messes in the water.