Bleach Or No Bleach

[newbie32]

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens book tells us to clean the waterer with bleach. Well my chicks are very messy, always getting the litter in it and pooping. My roo-think its a roo-has been caught on top of it twice. But I have watched them and they ALL make it messy. So I am trying to keep their brooder as clean as possible since I don't want disease.

Well I just finished cleaning everything and I did as the book suggested. Here is the problem-the waterer now smells like bleach even though I thoroughly rinsed it out.

How do you guys clean your waterers? Bleach or no? Are my chicks going to be okay? And last but not least how do I keep them from pooping in it? I have read forums on the poop thing but I can not suspend it above the floor.

 

[Mehjr10]

The Bleach is fine. I use it to treat my water barrel for the nipple watering system during the summer months.. All Municipal water systems use bleach or chlorine to treat drinking water.

Interesting Article http://www.talas-nyc.com/photos/msds/sodiumhypochlorite.pdf

Look at a nipple watering system.. I start mine out on it.

Here is the one that I use in my brooder.




These are in my run..

 

[MoonShadows]

I agree. The nipple watering system, whether nipples on the bottom of a bottle, bucket or pipe, is so much more sanitary....no poop, food, feathers in the water. I clean mine 1x a week with a bleach solution. Don't use straight bleach if you don't want that after-smell. A tablespoon in a quart or so of water is plenty to disinfect. You can buy these systems already made or buy the parts and make them yourself mush cheaper.

 

[Island Roo]

Another vote for nipples.

If you can't hang your waterers, try putting a block under them to get em off the ground.

 

[newbie32]

Another vote for nipples.

If you can't hang your waterers, try putting a block under them to get em off the ground.

Ok I will try to raise it more.

 

[newbie32]

The Bleach is fine. I use it to treat my water barrel for the nipple watering system during the summer months.. All Municipal water systems use bleach or chlorine to treat drinking water.

Interesting Article http://www.talas-nyc.com/photos/msds/sodiumhypochlorite.pdf

Look at a nipple watering system.. I start mine out on it.

Here is the one that I use in my brooder.




Where did you get the nipple to do this? Will my chicks-5weeks-adjust to this after having standard waterer?.




This one looks complicated and I am really ignorant when it comes to these things





This one looks fairly easier. Piping is something I would completely screw up. I see a hose attached, where do they drink from, the top?

 

[Mehjr10]

All the Nipples cam from http://www.cconly.com/chicken_supplies/waterers The red ones, but I actually bought them through amazon.com..

They are threaded so you drill a hole a little undersized and screw them in.. You can also use a tap to put the threads in the plastic if it is thick walled.

The barrel run to the four nipples in the run via the hose.. Easy to do..

I start my chicks on it and the will all get the hang very quickly, you have to take the other waterer away to do it. You will use less water but they will get what they need.


You can also put them in the bottom of a bucket and hang it.. I keep mine outside of the coop.


Questions just ask.

 

[newbie32]

so your saying I can put the nipple in the bottom of a barrel and hang it? I have a water machine for our family water-sparkle water. We have extra 5 gallon water drums. How would I go about converting this? The hole is fairly small already, can I just shove a nipple in that? And would it hold?

 

[Mehjr10]

I think the hole size is 7/16 dia. I don't have one to measure it at the moment.. 5 gallon bucket works well, the water bottle hole may be too big.

 

[newbie32]

I think the hole size is 7/16 dia. I don't have one to measure it at the moment.. 5 gallon bucket works well, the water bottle hole may be too big.

Hmmm maybe I could drill a hole in bottom of it to fit a nipple. I will order one in a few days and let you know how it go's. How do I train my chickens to drink from it? Sorry so many questions