mold in waterers

[fc]

I use well water. There are spots of mold in the waterers. What do you think- swish with clorox/water mix, then rinse?

 

[BankerJohn]

Quote:
A little clorox never hurt no chicken! I do believe you should get as much of the slime out by wiping it down with a bleach solution. THen, when you refill, consider a small amount of vinegar in the water to keep the slimey's away.

 

[fc]

Thanks for the response. I use vinegar about half the time, but the acid level is probably not high enough to kill the mold. Also, funny how algae just shows up! I'll plan to use a bit of bleach for cleanup.

 

[Judy]

I put a drop or two of bleach in the waterer with my well water. Controls algae but does not eliminate it. Then scrub the waterer with bleach on a wet sponge every week or so, when it gets yucky. I have also found organic ACV helps a little but not much.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
A little clorox never hurt no chicken! I do believe you should get as much of the slime out by wiping it down with a bleach solution. THen, when you refill, consider a small amount of vinegar in the water to keep the slimey's away.

So vingear works pretty good?

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
A little clorox never hurt no chicken! I do believe you should get as much of the slime out by wiping it down with a bleach solution. THen, when you refill, consider a small amount of vinegar in the water to keep the slimey's away.

So vingear works pretty good?

Only if the waterer is plastic! Vinegar will eat through galvanized metal waterers.

 

[BankerJohn]

vinegar work on plastic watering systems only. Mine is 5 gallon bucket, PVC pipe and Nipple Waterers so the vinegar works fine. If you have metal watering cans, vinegar will erode the metal and ruin the galvanization. If you have metal watering systems, consider bleach. You can use bleach on the plastic systems too. I alternate between bleach and vinegar - not by design but just out of convenience.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
So vingear works pretty good?

Only if the waterer is plastic! Vinegar will eat through galvanized metal waterers.

Ok. Great. Thanks for the info. Side note - Does vinegar benefit chickens at all? What would be a small amount of vinegar per gallon waterer?

 

[Talihofarms]

Another thing you may look at is a water test.
Once a year we pour a gallon of bleach down into our well.
In our area it is recomended. We don't drink the water for the first 24 hours.
We collect rain water and time our well shock .

In the summer here, we clean our waters out every week. ( Mold likes warm water).
Rotate a dry, cleaned waterer.
Fill them up the dirty waterer
with water, and add some bleach over night.
Dump and let dry . Use the next week...

This way our birds are not ingesting any treated water.


just my.02

 

[peopleRanimals2]

I have chicks and have small black mold spots in my ACV waterer. I put 1 teaspoon of ACV per gallon of water, and in the base and jug part of the waterer there is mold. I am afraid to give the chicks water in it, but i can't deny them water either. Please help!!