Coliforms in Water

[Wallie]

I am located in a place that has a well with a high coliform level. When tested there were 10 and the acceptable level for drinking water for humans is 5. I am wondering if this is still safe for my chickens to drink. Our house water is run through a UV filter but it is softened first so there is some salt in the water and I worry that it would be too much for such a small animal.

 

[DobieLover]

I am located in a place that has a well with a high coliform level. When tested there were 10 and the acceptable level for drinking water for humans is 5. I am wondering if this is still safe for my chickens to drink. Our house water is run through a UV filter but it is softened first so there is some salt in the water and I worry that it would be too much for such a small animal.

Why haven't you shocked the well to kill the Coliform?

 

[Wallie]

Why haven't you shocked the well to kill the Coliform?

Even after shocking the well the coliform level will rise quite quickly again. We get a lot of surface water since it is a dug well. We are going to put in a proper drilled well but it isn't in the cards right now.

 

[DobieLover]

Even after shocking the well the coliform level will rise quite quickly again. We get a lot of surface water since it is a dug well. We are going to put in a proper drilled well but it isn't in the cards right now.

I'd be more worried about the humans than the chickens. Can you all switch to drinking only bottled water?

 

[Wallie]

I'd be more worried about the humans than the chickens. Can you all switch to drinking only bottled water?

Before we put in the UV filter we were boiling all our water for 30 min. Now that we have the UV filter we are fine, it kills everything (we tested our water after and it is now showing 0 coliforms). I just dont know if the chickens will be ok with water with coliforms or softened water which will contain trace amounts of salt.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Do you have power???? If so, can you use a UV system to reduce the coliform level in your water, both for yourself and your flock??? I admit, they aren't cheap - but they are cheaper than drinking bottled water, over time.

If that's not an option (I understand, we had no power on our property for the first 6 months), have you considered collecting rainwater off roofs into gutters and diverting to a food grade tote? The tote should run (used) about $200, your gutter, depending on length, anywhere from $50 to $150. Put two coats of good paint on the tote, or cover with a heavy tarp to retard growth in it. I still use mine to water the chickens. 1" of rain on my barn roof is 120 gallons of water - and I only have gutters on one side!

 

[Wallie]

Thanks for the tip. I was planning on doing a rain collection system but I didn't know it needed to be covered to stop growth. We won't be able to do rain water in the winter though because it gets too cold and everything will freeze.

Our house water is softened before our UV system because we have too much calcium and lime in our water and it would just coat the UV light. We would need to clean the light every week to have it working if it was after.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes, you can feed your chickens the same water (post softening and UV filtration) that you use. The small amount of additional sodium added by the softening of even hard water isn't even a moderate risk to them. But go ahead and make the rainwater catch anyways - extend the life of your systems, and have "back-up" water in emergencies. My system is directly tied into their watering cups and an automatic dog bowl (for my ducks) - so I never have to do anything, and my flock has more than adequate water for its needs.

Admittedly, we don't get long hard freezes - but you could use a cistern and hand pump, then freezes wouldn't be an issue for you either. After the labor of burying the cistern below the frost line, of course.

 

[Wallie]

What a cool idea. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for all the information.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Our house water is run through a UV filter but it is softened first so there is some salt in the water and I worry that it would be too much for such a small animal.

I have hard water, iron instead of calcium.
I use a water softener system with salt and been giving the softened water to my chickens for nearly 5 years.
There is very little salt left as the system flushes out the salt after removing the iron or calcium from the ceramic pellets in the cylinder.
The reason it's not recommended to drink softened water is because it removes not only calcium and iron, but also necessary minerals.
I feed a complete feed that contains the necessary minerals and vitamins.

I feed this Starter-Grower feed year round with Oyster Shells separately for the Calcium.
A layers feed will look similar but will contain extra Calcium. GC