Apple Cider Vinegar?

[thechickfam]

I have been looking through past threads and found that some people put Apple Cider Vinegar in their chicken's water. Can someone tell me...

1. The benefits of it.

2. What brand should I buy? Does it need to be organic?

3. How much of it do I put in their water?

4. How long do you put it in their water? Do you use it everyday?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Apple Cider Vinegar- the raw kind- is pro-biotic, just like yogurt. What that means is it has good bacteria in it. If your chickens drink it they will have these bacteria in them, and it will help them digest their food better.

What you want to look for in a brand is raw and unpasteurized. If it is pasteurized, the bacteria is dead and there is no point to it.

I am not sure about number 3, and number 4 varies. Some people always use it, some never do, some only when their birds are sick, etc.

 

[thechickfam]

Thank you for your help. I have also heard of people giving their chickens yogurt as a probiotic. What kind of yogurt do people buy to give them?

 

[HeritageGoose13]

It should be plain and unflavored, nothing added. I do not think it matters if it is full fat or low fat, since yogurt is usually only an occasional thing.

 

[pdirt]

Apple cider vinegar isn't really a probiotic, but it does have some digestive health benefits. Here is the best concise description I've come across so far:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/508833-is-apple-cider-vinegar-a-probiotic/#page=1

I generally put 1-3 tablespoons per gallon of water about once a week. I don't give them ACV 24/7 as excessive use can cause problems with potassium absorption.

Lactic acid bacteria (LABs) are the actual probiotics, which can be found in large quantities in foods like yogurt, raw sauerkraut or kombucha. There are a small amount of LABs in raw ACV, but not really enough to matter much.

 

[pdirt]

Thank you for your help.  I have also heard of people giving their chickens yogurt as a probiotic.  What kind of yogurt do people buy to give them?

X2 on using plain unflavored yogurt. If your feeder ends up with some dusty stuff, don't toss it. Mix this nutritious dust with some yogurt and maybe a bit of water. Feed this to your chickens and they will love it.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Apple cider vinegar isn't really a probiotic, but it does have some digestive health benefits. Here is the best concise description I've come across so far:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/508833-is-apple-cider-vinegar-a-probiotic/#page=1

I generally put 1-3 tablespoons per gallon of water about once a week. I don't give them ACV 24/7 as excessive use can cause problems with potassium absorption.

Lactic acid bacteria (LABs) are the actual probiotics, which can be found in large quantities in foods like yogurt, raw sauerkraut or kombucha. There are a small amount of LABs in raw ACV, but not really enough to matter much.

Huh. Well what do you know? Everyone always told me it was probiotic.

Still healthy anyway I think.

 

[Honey B]

Might want to look into fermenting your chickens' food if you are interested in including probiotics in their diet. Lots of great threads about it on this forum.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Apple Cider vinegar or acidic acid is touted as killing mold and other single celled organisms like yeast, especially when these single celled organisms occur or live in a jar of sour kraut or cucumber pickles. But some people swear that Apple Cider vinegar helps food ferment when the facts say otherwise. Which is it? The only benefit i think vinegar has is that it may extend the time between changing the water in your birds' drinking fountains because vinegar in fact kills the stuff that makes your chickens' water turn green.

Vinegar is produced when wine or beer is exposed to oxygen. The name vinegar means spoiled wine. I suggest that you steep a raw egg in a coffee cup full of vinegar for 24 hours and see the effect that vinegar has on eggshells.

Then do whichever you think is best.

 

[thechickfam]

Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. If I do the ACV once a week, how often would I give yogurt to them? I am guessing it would be given to them like a treat. Maybe I could mix it with some of their crumbles? The only thing we have given them so far is mashed up hard boiled eggs, which they love, save-a-chick (electrolytes) and probiotic powder packets (when they came home, when they moved into their coop, and today after finishing their Corid treatment), and a chick stick that the hatchery gave us (they love it for entertainment). Wanting to keep our girls as healthy and happy as possible, especially after our scare with coccidiosis.