Apple Cider Vineger

[omalicha]

Does this boost immunity for the chickens? Do I mix it with vitamins in their water or give alone? I want to boost immunity

 

[JoshFig]

You'll open a can of worms on ACV. Strong opinions on both sides. I've heard of lots of potential benefits - not sure if they are true or not - but I did end up using it for 2 reasons (really 3):
1) Keeps mold/slime out of the waterers
2) Eggs seem to come out a lot cleaner
3) No real down side that I know of (other than cost of raw-unpasturized organic ACV)

I use 1 TBS per gallon.

 

[crealbilly]

Per my doctors advise - I guess I'm a advocate for

I mix 1 tsp in with my nightly chamomile tea along with 2 tsp of local honey. And yep I sure do give to the birds @ 1TBS per gallon of water.

Shake the bottle real well the good stuff settles to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[poodlechicks]

May I ask the reason for your Dr. to recommend ACV? Is it for general health?
Thanks.

 

[ChickNanny13]

You'll open a can of worms on ACV. Strong opinions on both sides. I've heard of lots of potential benefits - not sure if they are true or not - but I did end up using it for 2 reasons (really 3):
1) Keeps mold/slime out of the waterers
2) Eggs seem to come out a lot cleaner
3) No real down side that I know of (other than cost of raw-unpasturized organic ACV)

I use 1 TBS per gallon.

I have only 4 pullets, mix up a gallon of water that would last "forever" if they didn't get it so dirty. So I wash it out every 2 - 3 days, it has a slimy feel. When they were chicks, mixing a gallon which I stored in the house, changing their water (qt waterer) daily. I noticed black spots in my gallon which I assumed was mold. So I scrubbed it out with chlorine but it still happened so started mixing only half a gallon at a time. Thinking it could be the placement I keep their water in the Run/Coop, does catch some sun but doesn't explain the mold in the stored water in the house. Any ideas?

I feed FF which is a bit more work but LOVE the benefits that come with it, using Bragg ACV.

 

[MeepBeep]

May I ask the reason for your Dr. to recommend ACV? Is it for general health?
Thanks.

Ironically, since it's an acid itself, it 'might' help some individual with acid reflux and/or heartburn due to a PH buffering action...

As for it's 'benefits' for chickens, there is no conclusive data to support most if not all of the claimed benefits...

That isn't to say there are not benefits, there might be, but take most if not all of the claims you hear with a big grain of salt as 'scientifically' they are almost all anecdotal...

Also as said there appears to be no 'down side' so if you want to try it go for it...

Personally I found when trying it on chicks that it left behind a much more prominent slime coating and stink in the waterer that needed to be cleaned more often...

 

[crealbilly]

May I ask the reason for your Dr. to recommend ACV? Is it for general health?
Thanks.

You may - it was a recommendation from my doctor that I give it a try because I was constantly cold all the time, even in the summer. It has worked for me, now I'm able to get warm even in the middle of winter. I like to hunt and it was next to impossible because I couldn't get warm. But now I'm able to take advantage of cold snowy weather and be warm doing it.

He recommended Bragg Organic ACV, not the stuff they cook up in a lab somewhere. There is a difference I guess.

As far as giving to chickens in their water. I have been doing it since I first got chickens so I don't know what it's like not to give them ACV.

 

[poodlechicks]

You may - it was a recommendation from my doctor that I give it a try because I was constantly cold all the time, even in the summer. It has worked for me, now I'm able to get warm even in the middle of winter. I like to hunt and it was next to impossible because I couldn't get warm. But now I'm able to take advantage of cold snowy weather and be warm doing it.

He recommended Bragg Organic ACV, not the stuff they cook up in a lab somewhere. There is a difference I guess.

As far as giving to chickens in their water. I have been doing it since I first got chickens so I don't know what it's like not to give them ACV.

That's interesting. I have friends who use ACV in their salads or add it to their stock. They say it helps burn fat as a thermogenic food.
As for use in chickens, I too didn't find detailed research on ACV. I decided to try it for 1 year and then another year w/o using it to see if I found any clinical differences. I found absolutely nothing different on the chickens one way or the other, so I stopped using it.

 

[MeepBeep]

He recommended Bragg Organic ACV, not the stuff they cook up in a lab somewhere. There is a difference I guess.

I don't know about the 'cooked up in a lab' comment, the difference between ACV and the clear 'white' vinegar (or other vinegars) you see in the store is what was used as the base for the vinegar fermentation... Similar to the difference between wine, beer, brandy, whiskey any other alcoholic drinks... Apple cider vinegar as the name applies is derived from fermenting the ethanol found in apple cider, they use the entire cider mixture to ferment, while white vinegar or the misnomer named 'distilled vinegar' is derived from using an already distilled ethanol spirit as the fermentation base... Simply difference processes that create slightly different but very similar products...

If you get ACV with 'The Mother' still left in that simply means the cellulose and dead fermenting bacteria was not filtered out of it...

 

[crealbilly]

I don't know about the 'cooked up in a lab' comment, the difference between ACV and the clear 'white' vinegar (or other vinegars) you see in the store is what was used as the base for the vinegar fermentation... Similar to the difference between wine, beer, brandy, whiskey any other alcoholic drinks... Apple cider vinegar as the name applies is derived from fermenting the ethanol found in apple cider, they use the entire cider mixture to ferment, while white vinegar or the misnomer named 'distilled vinegar' is derived from using an already distilled ethanol spirit as the fermentation base... Simply difference processes that create slightly different but very similar products...

Compare the cheap ACV (the stuff I call cooked up in a lab) with Bragg and you can clearly see and taste the difference. I'm not going to debate the differences with anyone when it's so obvious theres a difference between the two.