apple cider vinegar

[dragonlair]

My goats, chickens and horses LOVE water with ACV added.

 

[cravenchx]

Do you really have to use organic vinegar?

 

[tball]

All blogs point to YES, it must have "MOTHER" in it a natural wormer, good for controlling crop problems, not to mention keeps slime down in waterer. But domt use in galv continer, Its a win-win in my book!!!

 

[Christiane]

I'm glad someone asked this question, as I was wondering myself if Apple Cider Vinegar in the water was alright.

Good to Know!

Christiane

 

[Ole rooster]

I have a metal waterer but didn't know about the galvanize and vinegar. I put the Baggs vinegar in water twice before I saw this post. Since then I've stopped. But I will say when the Baggs was put in the water those chickens drank more water it day it seemed than they did the previous week. They just about emptied the container. I'm going to get a plastic one so I can use the vinegar.

 

[Little Luna Silkies]

More than anything, I love that it eliminates the slime in the waterers!

 

[Evelle]

i just splash it in..
chickens dont mind.. i also use lemon juice as an antibactireal with ACV

 

[Ohhhdear]

OK, what's wrong with using ACV in a galvanized waterer? I know it's an acid, but it's a very MILD acid and that shouldn't cause much of a problem leaching out whatever nasties from the steel. If anything, it should inhibit bacterial and algal growth. My 5 gallon galvanized waterer is really old anyway (but not rusty), and I don't think there's much that could hurt it.
I guess I'm questioning this because I've heard it repeated all over the BYCF but nobody gives any really scientific rationale for only using ACV or meds or additives in anything but plastic waterers. Which, btw, are often formulated with PCB and PCPs and those WILL leach out with acid additives. The only thing really safe for additives is glass.

 

[Beekissed]

The acetic acid will finally corrode your galvanized waterer and cause it to rust, not to mention the aforementioned leaching of metals into the water....normally galvanized waterers have a light coating that protects the contents from the metal, but the vinegar will dissolve that coating.

As for organic vs. storebought....all one has to do is divide the mother out of the organic, unpastuerized vinegar into gallons of store bought and processed vinegar and they will support the mother and continue to culture the vinegar with probiotics. You can even place some of the mother into apple juice and make your own vinegar.

 

[frostbite]

OK, I'm confused. If it's the acidity and buffering capacity of apple cider vinegar that reduces the acidity of the stomach contents, then it wouldn't seem to matter if it was organic. If the benefit of the organic is that it has live organisms in it that are beneficial to the chicken, then how does it survive the vinegar? Can anyone point me to any research to support the organic vs plain old dirt cheap store bought vinegar preference? Or even a more specific explanation about what vinegar is supposed to provide, and why it works? (dietary, I mean)