Avoid Single Use Plastic Water Bottles! Don't Repeat Our Mistake!

[Kale Chips]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I currently water my flock using an old ice cream bucket, but I'd imagine I should probably upgrade to a safer alternative. I know you may not be an expert, but what is your take on those large black rubber waterers used for livestock? Do you think that would be a better (or worse) option?

 

[Molpet]

This year we had two (and only two) chronic health problems with our flock (all now about 18 months old).

One went from laying eggs with strange deposits/pigmentation that degraded into hardly laying at all, frequent laying of rubber eggs, and increasing lethargy (details in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nyone-seen-this-before.1250379/#post-20098369).

The other was a case of asymptomatic (but very messy and challenging) diarrhea (mentioned in this thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...erwise-seems-normal-possible-problem.1231772/).

Both chronic issues were challenges for several months. As the heat of the summer settled in we changed our outdoor waterer (homemade) to commercial product that made use of chicken cups to help the girls beat the heat. We were shocked that both conditions showed immediate improvement in a single day and by the third or fourth day, both chronic conditions had completely vanished!

We have made use of two different outdoor waters since and have not had any signs of recurrence of these chronic symptoms in the past four+ months.

The old waterer we replaced was nothing more that a plastic #1 (PET) 1 quart orange juice bottle with horizontal nipples installed in it. It was in service for 13 months, most of which was outdoors where the bottle was exposed to UV and rough weather conditions.

The new waterers are both food-grade HDPE containers (one with chicken cups for heat, the other with horizontal nipples for cold). We think the PET plastic broke down over time releasing chemicals (perhaps phthalates, which are possible endocrine disrupters) into the water that the chickens were drinking. The bottle yellowed and became translucent (rather than clear) so obviously SOMETHING was breaking down.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about plastic bottles and health concerns. Interested parties will have to dig into the matter for themselves. Snopes.com has a good summary write up here:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/reuse-plastic-bottles/

Here's a write up of phthalates on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate

Regardless of the EXACT chemical mechanism, this was a serious health risk to the chickens. We feel terrible for not having recognized this sooner.

I would strongly encourage any chicken keepers to make use of food grade HDPE in waterers at a minimum. All other plastics are more risky. BPA-free polycarbonate bottles (e.g. Nalgene PC) might be acceptable. I've been using the same PC Nalgene bottle for 10 years. But I'm obviously much larger than a chicken and only a small percentage of the water I drink passes through that bottle.

Ideally I'd use stainless steel for a chicken waterer, except the thermal conductivity of the metal causes problems in both hot and cold environments. No easy answers here it seems...

But at least the girls are healthy and happy! Please keep them that way and don't do like we did and try to do a waterer on-the-cheap!

We are going to closely monitor how the food-grade HDPE waterers age over the next season. We may need to just budget to replace them every couple of seasons if they show any signs of degradation or the chickens show any unusual health signs. We will be watching very closely as this is a mistake we never want to repeat again!

Good luck out there!

Thank You for posting this.. I know many people make waterers out stuff from the recycle bin. I was thinking about it myself.. not any more and will be tossing some of my old discolored waterers

 

[JanetMarie]

I use stainless steel watering pans, food dishes, and glass chick waterers.

On a larger scale, plastics are one of the worst inventions and a nightmare for other creatures. Plastics are filling the oceans, and filling the bellies of marine birds and killing them slowly.

People survived without plastics for thousands of years. Google and research how the plastic epidemic is destroying the earth. We can live without plastic again, but it likely won't happen on the large scale.

I use glass to store many things in the refrigerator. I plan to radically do more to drastically limit plastic use in my household.

Maybe there could be a thread on ideas?

 

[Molpet]

I use stainless steel watering pans, food dishes, and glass chick waterers.

On a larger scale, plastics are one of the worst inventions and a nightmare for other creatures. Plastics are filling the oceans, and filling the bellies of marine birds and killing them slowly.

People survived without plastics for thousands of years. Google and research how the plastic epidemic is destroying the earth. We can live without plastic again, but it likely won't happen on the large scale.

I use glass to store many things in the refrigerator. I plan to radically do more to drastically limit plastic use in my household.

Maybe there could be a thread on ideas?

Used to be people brought a container to a store to be refilled. Coffee, flour and such. Very few places do something like that. Petco has catlitter buckets that you can bring back for refills..
Other things were wrapped in butcher type paper.. of course that uses a lot of trees.

 

[Mosey2003]

I am flattened! Good that the health of your girls has increased.
»bottle cap waterers« and »pop bottle waterers« for chicks are being sold all over the internet and i thought this would be a good recycling idea.

I would imagine those would be okay for a short term usage indoors, out of sunlight. Not an expert, but I can't see how much would leech over, say, a week per bottle of use.

Good to know about the bigger containers outside.

 

[HoopyFrood]

@JanetMarie Not to worry! And definitely start a plastics thread if you like the idea. It's good stuff to talk about! All the best!

 

[hayley3]

I use them all the time for water mostly and feed.

They stink so bad I never used mine, esp not for water.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I currently water my flock using an old ice cream bucket, but I'd imagine I should probably upgrade to a safer alternative. I know you may not be an expert, but what is your take on those large black rubber waterers used for livestock? Do you think that would be a better (or worse) option?

Could you post a link that represents the livestock waterer you have in mind? I'm not familiar with them. And yes, I'm certainly no expert! But I am very inquisitive

I'll try to find links to what we've purchased for watering supplies and been very happy with. I think one of the products may have been discontinued. Stay tuned...

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I am flattened! Good that the health of your girls has increased.
»bottle cap waterers« and »pop bottle waterers« for chicks are being sold all over the internet and i thought this would be a good recycling idea.

 

[Kale Chips]

Could you post a link that represents the livestock waterer you have in mind? I'm not familiar with them. And yes, I'm certainly no expert! But I am very inquisitive

I'll try to find links to what we've purchased for watering supplies and been very happy with. I think one of the products may have been discontinued. Stay tuned...

Well, here is the link to what is in mind, and I'll stay tuned

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...iIOsDpaiPo-aiQJHD6t0cfykh55XQE1caAszWEALw_wcB