cleaning feeders and waterers

[BuffOrpington88]

I wash the feeders and waterers every day, but I only have a couple birds and this would probably not be convenient with larger scale operations. I just wash them with regular soap and water.

 

[Oakieridge]

I used to bleach every week on Fridays all feeders and waterers. Now that I found Oxine I just add a few drops of that to their water every day and and soak them in Oxine water once a week. Feeders get sprayed with Oxine at least once a week. We use rabbit feeders screwed to the inside of the coop so I just spray them when I spray the coops with Oxine.

 

[mythreechicks]

Why is that?

I have two of each and rotate them every couple of days. They get washed in the dishwasher on their "off days." Or in the sink with hot soapy water if I'm not running the dishwasher or there's not enough room in it for them (they take up a lot of room). (FWIW, my feeders and waterers are plastic. I wouldn't put the galvanized in the dishwasher.) I don't use bleach unless I think there's a need to disinfect beyond the capabilities of the dishwasher. But given the heat treatment any bugs would get in there, I'm pretty confident things are dying.

it could be it could be that you are washing them in a place where you wash your own dishes.

 

[blackdog043]

When I wash mine it's outside or in a bathtub. You should not clean them in your kitchen because of germs/ poop possibility being splashed around.

 

[Kates Chooks]

When chicks are in the brooder, I wash feeders and water founts every day in soapy water. I have a spray bottle with bleach solution , few teaspoons bleach to gallon of water . Spray the feeders and water founts with this and then a final plain water rinse. Once they are in coop and run with large waterer, I toss water in the fount base out every day, and wash once a week, same way , soapy water and bleach solution, with final plain water rinse. In summer you will get that thin slimy
residue on plastic, don't want that. In winter, can wash
much less.

 

[lazy gardener]

Adult birds: rinse every time they get filled. If they look like they need a more thorough cleaning, I use a bit of dish soap, rarely bleach. I find that a wad of grass or creeping charlie works very well as a scrubby to clean the waterers! (disposable and totally biodegradable)

 

[GC-Raptor]

I have a 2 gallon galvanized fount that I clean weekly with a new toilet brush with an appendage to clean trough. I use nothing but clean water to scrub clean. I also lift from bottom and dump some water from trough daily to remove feed crumbs. I also clean pail under raised coop and pan in run weekly. I empty both pail and pan nightly and lean pan against tree and pail is upside down against frame of coop.
I clean 12# feeder every solstice, summer, autumn, winter and spring, as oils and residue from feed sticks to walls and trough. I use a scratch free scrub sponge and dish detergent. GC

 

[Kates Chooks]

Adult birds: rinse every time they get filled. If they look like they need a more thorough cleaning, I use a bit of dish soap, rarely bleach. I find that a wad of grass or creeping charlie works very well as a scrubby to clean the waterers! (disposable and totally biodegradable)

Yes, I have used the young burrs from Burdock for exactly this type of thing. They make excellent scrubbies, and you just toss them when you're done.