Goldfish?!

[Chirpchirp19]

Hello! I am a member of BYC on Facebook and saw that someone mentioned a couple weeks ago about goldfish in the waterers?! I can't seem to find the post again so I decided to come here for answers! So basically whats the point in putting fish in with the water and is there any benefits to it? Would the fish poop contaminate the water? What about in the winter? Thanks in advance!

 

[Kiki]

Hello there!
Unfortunately I don't know what post you saw on FB because I don't use FB.
I don't believe that those posts you see on the BYC FB page are from here.

I did a quick search here on BYC for goldfish in waterers and found this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rain-barrel-questions.1307367/

I am not sure if it will help you but it might be worth reading.

 

[Steven Bussell]

Chirp
In my opinion when it comes to proving water more is not always better. I do believe having the ability to provide enough for when we maybe be gone by awhile a good idea.
I myself prefer to provide 2 days worth of water and food at a time.
I use city treated water. So it has everything in it to protect against algae and mosquitoes. But it does gas off. So replacing water every few days just saves you work and time.
I do have the ability to provide a week worth of water and food if I need to.
I choose to work a little more to insure they have fresh water and food more often.

 

[Chirpchirp19]

Hello there!
Unfortunately I don't know what post you saw on FB because I don't use FB.
I don't believe that those posts you see on the BYC FB page are from here.

I did a quick search here on BYC for goldfish in waterers and found this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rain-barrel-questions.1307367/

I am not sure if it will help you but it might be worth reading.

Thank you so much! I know that the posts on the facebook group are not the same, but I figured someone in here would be helpful! Thank you so much for the link!

 

[Mosey2003]

Don't put goldfish in your chicken waterers.

I'm sure someone got the idea from horse people putting goldfish in stock tanks to eat the algae. Honestly, I was never a fan of that idea when I had horses, either.

Give your birds ample, clean water. That is always best.

 

[colea82]

I wouldn’t put them into the drinking water, but I do use a kiddie pool to give them the small goldfish as treats. Chickens eat them up.