combining two ingredants?

[henney penny]

I have given my chickens ACV for years,now I add extra vit.,electolites and pro biotics.to their water.My question is can I add the 1 tbl. of ACV with the supplement at the same time? I have been doing ACV one week and then the other the next week.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have given my chickens ACV for years,now I add extra vit.,electolites and pro biotics.to their water.My question is can I add the 1 tbl. of ACV with the supplement at the same time?

Pro biotic is the opposite of Anti-biotic. ACV has anti-biotic properties and besides its acid attacks the minerals in your supplement. It seems to be one of those cases where you must either fish or cut bait but not both.

 

[henney penny]

Thanks,I was told by others it would be ok,but still was not sure about it

 

[TwoCrows]

ACV contains natural probiotics on it's own. So if you are already adding probiotics, you don't need to add ACV as well if you are looking to up the probiotics. The ACV is good as a ph raiser, keeping the ph higher in the body. It is a very good tonic and has many good qualities to it...increases appetite, good anti fungal, glosses the feathers and give them more energy. I also use ACV and probiotics, but I alternate them and regular clean water all week. So one day on water, next day on ACV and the next day after that, i use probiotics. It will all make a difference over time.

 

[pdirt]

ACV contains natural probiotics on it's own. So if you are already adding probiotics, you don't need to add ACV as well if you are looking to up the probiotics. The ACV is good as a ph raiser, keeping the ph higher in the body. It is a very good tonic and has many good qualities to it...increases appetite, good anti fungal, glosses the feathers and give them more energy. I also use ACV and probiotics, but I alternate them and regular clean water all week. So one day on water, next day on ACV and the next day after that, i use probiotics. It will all make a difference over time.

ACV does not contain any probiotics. ACV contains mostly acetobacter, the bacteria that turns alcohol (hard apple cider) into vinegar and some yeast remnants. But to my knowledge, it doesn't contain any of the lactobacillus bacteria (the famous probiotic bacteria). It does however create a more healthful environment for the probiotics to do their job. ACV has many good benefits on its own, but probiotics is not one of them. They way I look at it is how much acidic (and how acidic) nutrition are my birds getting? Their feed is fermented, which is mildly acidic. Occasionally I put ACV or EM in their water, which will add a bit more acidity. If I didn't ferment their food, I would probably acidify their water more regularly. But you can over do it on acid foods. Some is good, but too much not so much. I think TwoCrows method of alternating clean and treated water sounds like a good idea.

 

[pdirt]

A good experiment to try...set up two waterers, one plain and one treated (ACV or probiotics, etc). See which one your birds drink more of first. I did this with EM and they preferred the EM water, so I gave them only EM water after that for a couple months. Then I tried it again and this time they preferred the plain water. So now I only give them EM water every other bucket full or so.

 

[TwoCrows]

A good experiment to try...set up two waterers, one plain and one treated (ACV or probiotics, etc). See which one your birds drink more of first. I did this with EM and they preferred the EM water, so I gave them only EM water after that for a couple months. Then I tried it again and this time they preferred the plain water. So now I only give them EM water every other bucket full or so.

I am not so sure about my chickens, but I have noticed that my quail enjoy drinking ACV water and will guzzle far more water compared to plain water. Even water spiked with probiotics or vitamins...they drink more than they do with plain water.

Now, I have very hard water and I personally don't care for the taste myself. LOL So it is possible they don't care for it either and these additives mask the taste of this rough tasting water. Maybe they are thirsty and find it easier to guzzle water that doesn't taste like a salt brick. LOL

 

[TwoCrows]

On this note, I am also a believer that animals crave and know what they need. So if some prefer a certain type of spiked water here, it may be that they do indeed need something that it contains, over say plain water.

 

[pdirt]

I also forgot to mention that I'm currently on hiatus adding supplements to their water. In this freezing weather, with our nipple system, we've had to switch to an aquarium tank heater in the water bucket. It keeps the nipples thawed, but the lowest setting is still pretty warm, about 65F. Both ACV or EM grow slimy algae or something in the warm water within a few days. I'm not quite sure what it is and the birds seem fine but I figured it best to just skip it for now. No such problem in the summer, even in 100+F weather. It must be the hot heater in the water.

 

[pdirt]

On this note, I am also a believer that animals crave and know what they need. So if some prefer a certain type of spiked water here, it may be that they do indeed need something that it contains, over say plain water.

That's my thinking too, that they know what's best for them, at least in general.