Cleaning feeder/waterers?

[Moselle]

How, with what, and how often do you clean your waterers and feeders? For chicks? Grown chickens?

 

[MissPrissy]

I rinse mine good everytime I fill them. They don't seem to get as nasty in the winter as they do in summer. In summer I use antibacterial dish detergent and scrub them once a week.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

I raised chickens for several years in Georgia and always used a little bleach in water in a half drum.
I also added 1 teaspoon of bleach to a gallon waterer when I refilled them.
I was told to do this by the old timers, and never had a sick bird.

I've seen an occasional post on here criticizing the use of bleach, but I disagree, it worked for me over several years on an average of about 130 chickens.
I never lost a bird to sickness.
I had well water, not city water.

 

[1acrefarm]

I have a toilet brush to scrub with. It is never used for toilets. I occasionally bleach the water buckets to rid and prevent any mess or algae. I sometimes use dishwashing liquid to clean feed containers with. I do not have a certain schedule I kind of wing it and do it on an as needed basis. Any chick waterers and feeders get scrubbed and sanitized after the chicks leave brooder and scrubbed as needed (which is alot) with hot water and dish liquid while they are in brooder.

 

[ksacres]

I'm sure everyone is different, but this is what I do:

Waterers for chicks-every other day, using dish soap, rinsed daily

Feeders for chicks-never, ok, not never, but only when actually dirty with poo

Waterers for adults-when they get dirty in winter, twice a week with dish soap in summer, rinsed daily though

Feeders-only when dirty with poo

I'm not picky about the feeders, but clean water is a must

 

[bigzio]

I have a number of waterers that I replace daily. I wash them with dish soap daily. I have enough waterers that I can carry out a clean full one, and bring back the others to wash and have ready for the next day. Fresh clean water for the flock is a good practice to get into.

bigzio

 

[seminolewind]

I do the waterers every time I refill them. The toilet brush idea sounds good, I'll get one. I do swish and dump the water in the tray every day.

 

[Moonwalker]

feeders get dumped if there is poo in them and if they have poo on the outside, it's a quick session with the light setting on the pressure washer. Same for the bases of the waterers. I rinse the jugs for the waterers when I fill them and wash them out with dish soap about once a week. If I am going to store them or use them for a different batch of chickens, then I disinfect with either bleach water or Novalsan solution.