Bleach in water??

[JudyMcKinn]

Summer is coming on, and green stuff is forming in my waterers again. I seem to remember that some have posted that they did something to avoid this, and seems like it may have been adding a little bleach in the water. Is this correct? Do any of you have experience with this? If so what do you use? And if you use bleach, how much, so it won't hurt the chickens or make the water taste bad, but still keep the green algae from forming? Thanks for any help.

 

[panner123]

I clean all my waterers with bleach at least once a week. I try to keep them out of the direct sunlight, which helps. As for putting bleach in the water, that might be dangerous. There is a product that might work, my wife uses it in the fish pond. I don't know the name of it, when we go to the pet store she just asks for algae out. Hope this helped. Judy I am going to have to e-mail you some photos of the wild turkeys nest to the chicken yard. Hubby will be wanting to move here.

 

[dlhunicorn]

hiya judy! In the warm weather I would just change the water at least once daily (if very hot I do more often) and bleach out when cleaning...then the problem should not occur.
If you have a natural source of water such as a pond or such I would keep them away from it in the very hot weather particularly if their is an algae problem.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Thanks, everyone. Yes, Panner (John) I would love to see the turkey photos.
Diana, I have 4 pens of chickens, total about 60 or so, (and hubby down with a bad back-can't walk at all) so it helps me if I only have to water every 2 or 3 days. I have large enough waterers (and enough of them) that I can do this, but not without the algae forming. I was just hoping there was some way to keep the water better for that time. ??

 

[nccountrygirl]

I wonder and someone correct me if I'm wrong, if you put ACV in their water if that might help algae from forming.

 

[HickChick Wannabe]

Algae needs both nutrients and sunlight to grow. Green algae (as opposed to brown) in particular needs a lot of sunlight, so if you can provide some shade for the water, that should help a lot.

 

[willheveland]

I use bleach alot.I keep it in a spray bottle and use it to clean my waterers and feeders every few days.I get alittle green in the waterers in the hot summer and you can smell it too.But a shot of bleach and paper towel cleans it right up.I don't know if ACV keeps the green away but I do put some in for the mite deterant and the calcium absorbing part. Will

 

[patandchickens]

I wonder what would happen if you painted most of the outside of the waterers black. (I know paint doesn't stick exceptionally well to plastic, but you could try). I'd leave a vertical strip open so you could still see the water level. Less light = less algal growth.

If you are getting a lot of really rapid algal growth you might wanna have the water source tested for nitrates/nitrites, in case there is a problem you ought to know about.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[wegotchickens]

Paint sticks to the plastic if you rough up the plastic with some sandpaper or an emery board, first.
Gotta watch out, though, since if it peels off the peep can eat it.

Maybe color it with a permanent marker?

 

[Lola]

Instead of trying to paint the plastic, could slipping a black sock over the bottle do the trick? (I guess it depends on how big your watering bottles are, but perhaps a cloth slip-cover of some sort could be a solution.)