keeping water fresh ?

[Dee Dee 2]

I thought I had the perfect idea for a constant fresh water supply for my chickens. I fixed up a toilet tank complete with fill valve and ran it from bottom of the tank to p.v.c. pipe with poulty water nipples setting the fill valve on the lowest amount of water possible.
Even so, I realized my chickens are not drinking 1 1/2 gal. of water per day since they free range most of the day. So now the water in the tank is getting moldy around the edges. What can I put in the water to keep it "fresh"? I prefer not to use clorine and would not know how much to use. Any ideas ? would be appreciated. Thanks !

 

[LakeMomNY]

Iodine will keep it potable. That's what a lot of backpackers use.

 

[LakeMomNY]

So, upon thinking about this, it occurs to me that I have NO idea how much iodine is too much iodine for a chicken.

Iodine a WILL make the water potable, but I don't ACTUALLY know that it won't do more harm than good...

 

[azygous]

Food grade peroxide. I think it would be okay for chickens as long as you follow the PPM ratio guidelines for potable water.

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Thanks all. I will investigate both the iodine and peroxide remedies. I am also going to do the ol`brick in the tank to lower the water level even more. On a side note I found some really great poultry water nipples. They came from Cornerstone Farm Ventures and are a model 300 drinking cups. They are actually little cups with a lever that refills as the chicken drinks. They will be much easier for the birds to drink from and get more water. This is a concern because of our high temps. It is already 90* + and extremely humid with a heat index over 100*. whew ! Thanks again. (ˆvˆ)