Confused about Apple Cider

[TrueBlueKYGirl]

I'm a newbie and reading everything and anything on BYC. I've come across conflicting opinions on Apple Cider vinegar. So, to help me and any other newbie, here are the questions?

Should I be adding Apple Cider Vinegar (with Mothers) to my babies' water?
Does it have any benefits?
Do you do add it, if so how often?

What else do I need to now about Apple Cider Vinegar? If I decided to use it, I know to go to my local Organic Food store to get the unpasteurized. Thanks in advance for any and all opinions.....

 

[bugflipper]

I can't say whether to put it in with babies. Here's what I do, doesn't mean it's the right way but I've been doing it for decades and it works for me. Chicks get the vitamin electrolyte supplement mixed in the water with 4 tbs of sugar per gallon of water. After out of the brooder the chickens get 1 tbs of Apple cider vinegar per gallon of water.

To better understand think of it as Apple wine since that's were vinegar starts. It's apples ground up, water and yeast. In about 2 weeks you have wine. Let that sit for a few months to a few years and you have vinegar. The mother is the suspended solids, a mix of liquified Apple pulp and yeast.

I keep it in the water all the time. For health benefits it acts as a wormer and helps prevent illness. What the deal with it is, is that most organisms can't live in an acidic environment. You are turning the chicken into being ever so slightly acidic in it's gut. Beyond that I honestly don't know but people claim there are beneficial nutrients and compounds as well.
Also it prevents algae from growing in the waterer. I use it on every form of poultry and livestock on my farm. Also a tbs a day for me and my family. Not appetizing but as they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Even walmart will have vinegar with "mother" in it. Bragg's is inexpensive as it's not organic but isn't pastured so comes with mother.

If you feed fermented feed then the benefits of vinegar in water are already had. If going the vinegar in water route then only use in plastic containers, it will ruin metal fountains. Dosage is a tablespoon per gallon. Once a week filling water fountain is enough, depends I suppose how long your filled fountain last. If it lasts two days before needing refilling then once a week is fine for a tonic.