Is it ok to have Apple Cider vinegar in your water

[Birking-chickens]

Good evening! Im a chicken owner, and though I’ve owned chickens for over a year now, I’m stilling learning some things. My question was is it ok to always have ACV in my chickens water. After we had a few cases of poop stuck to butt fluff, we started putting ACV in all the hens water to strengthen their immune systems, and we still continue to do so. Is this ok? Should they have an option without ACV?
Thanks!

 

[nuthatched]

They should always have an option of pure water. Unless it's the raw, with the mother acv, it won't do anything for health. I've never had success with getting my chickens to touch acv water ,especially when it's strong enough to actually have an effect on health.
Make sure to use a plastic waterer when using acv.

 

[Birking-chickens]

They should always have an option of pure water. Unless it's the raw, with the mother acv, it won't do anything for health. I've never had success with getting my chickens to touch acv water ,especially when it's strong enough to actually have an effect on health.
Make sure to use a plastic waterer when using acv.

Ok thanks! It is raw and mother ACV, and my chickens actually seem to love it, and will choose it over a container without ACV, but I’ll make sure to start putting some pure water in their coop.

 

[nuthatched]

Ok thanks! It is raw and mother ACV, and my chickens actually seem to love it, and will choose it over a container without ACV, but I’ll make sure to start putting some pure water in their coop.

Real yogurt is also a good way to boost probiotics, give them a small bowl once a week, especially in summer. Just stand back because they'll fling it everywhere.

 

[Sussex19]

A while back I put ACV in my chickens waterers, and one of my hens started laying thin shelled eggs.
I stopped adding ACV, and the eggs went back to normal.
I have no idea if it was related, or a coincidence, and none of my other hens had any problems.
Just something to bear in mind, not to put you off.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Birds should ALWAYS have a pure water option.

ACV does nothing but acidify the water. That has the normal and expected chemical result of selecting for more acid loving bacteria in their gut. Nothing more. Knowing your existing water pH lets you calculate how much acid to add.

After a while, the gut bacteria will have fully adapted to the acidified water source, and you wil cease to see benefit - briefly, its beneficial the same way and radical change in pH is of benefit. Bacteria that don't like it fail to thrive, bacteria that do begin to colonize. Including the "mother" is an effort to pick which bacteria colonize - or at least give a leg up to some over others, much like feeding yogurt with live cultures, or kombucha, or kefir, or kimchi. or pickles.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Pickles, btw, tend to be very high salt - I don't recommend - and chances are your birds will have no interest - but the theory is sound. All of those processes of food preservation share some commonalities which are useful (at times) for your chickens, too.

 

[Sussex19]

@U_Stormcrow I have heard that the body reacts to the acidic vinegar by becoming more alkaline, which is what is beneficial.
Is there any truth in that?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow I have heard that the body reacts to the acidic vinegar by becoming more alkaline, which is what is beneficial.
Is there any truth in that?

"Its complicated". I might lie and say that I hate that answer, but I really don't. "Its Complicated" is an expression of a universal truth - there are no magic bullets, merely trade offs. Most of the studies look at really short timeframes, and capture the period where the existing biome is being harmed by the suddenly altered environment, and try to cut themselves off before the bacteria that like the new environment get a chance to fully colonize.

The few studies I've seen of longer duration end up at substantially similar baterial loads - just a different mix.

There are certain pH that are associated with improved digestion of some nutrients - and inhibited digestion of others. Whether a particular pH is of net benefit to your birds or not is, in part, a factor of what you feed them.

I will say that to the best of my knowledge, no commercial facilities (who can afford to test water cheaply and buy vinegar or other acids even more cheaply in bulk), and who can amortize costs over huge flock numbers, are engaged in the process of routinely adjusting their water pH with a live ferment. That suggests to me that, for whatever reason, they don't find it cost effective.

Now, if your local well/pipe water source is sufficiently basic or acidic that its a problem for you to drink, some adjustment for your birds might be appropriate - particularly if your water is very basic.

 

[Sussex19]

Thank you for clarifying that.
I have two separate lots of cockerels, and one lot I have been giving some ACV, and the others not.
So far, the ones that are having ACV do seem a little plumper, but there are other factors there as well.

Now, if your local well/pipe water source is sufficiently basic or acidic that its a problem for you to drink, some adjustment for your birds might be appropriate - particularly if your water is very basic.

We drink the same water (just boiled and filtered) as the chickens, and have never had any problems with it.