Apple cider vinegar for Chicks?

[3eyondblessed]

Hi there I have 9 four week old Chicks, and I’m curious to how often I should put Apple cider vinegar in their waterer. Thank you!

 

[Brooks_]

Simplest answer is never. But if you feel that you must, always provide plain water also.

 

[iriedeby]

I too don't really believe all the apple cider vinegar myths. I have been using it in dog's food for months, but see no benefit whatsoever. I don't think it benefits anyone but maybe humans, and that is the placebo effect.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi there I have 9 four week old Chicks, and I’m curious to how often I should put Apple cider vinegar in their waterer. Thank you!

I do a four-day regiment for purchased chicks from Day 1 to about Day 14.
Day 1: Bottled water (because our water is hard.)
Day 2: Hydro Hen OR ACV w/mother, 1 Tablespoon per gallon of bottled water.
Day 3: Bottled water.
Day 4: Nutra Drench water (vitamins).

If they're my chicks, I just do the Hydro Hen/ACV. Helps if the ones that may be prone to pasty butt.

If they are as old as yours, that's about when I do that four-day regimen but make it one day per week for the add-in supplements.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I don't feel it is beneficial.
Several years ago I tried it on my flock and what I found was my laying hands had thin or missing shells after a prolonged time on the ACV. Switching off of the ACV their shells went back to normal.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The answer is complicated, the benefits are minor (if any, its quite circumstantial), and the studies are usually both short and small in total birds involved. It does have some use in very specific circumstances, but it is not a cure all or a general benefit, unless you count the "feels" of chicken owners who don't know better, but feel good about doing something "special" for their birds.

If ACV (whether "live" or not) was even 1/10th as effective as the crowd claims, it would be widely used in commercial production, where margins are typically only a few %, given how cheap ACV is in commerical quantity.

Its not.

That should tell you something about the math and the economics.