OK to drink from muddy puddles?

[Barred Rockstar]

Yeah, my chickens would rather drink from the nasty duck pond than their own clean water dish. Maybe it has more vitamins and minerals.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

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Well said, you two!

Yes, chickens are fairly hardy--a little dirty water every now and then won't hurt them.

 

[chickenjim64]

I don't think it will hurt them, mine free range and there pecking at the dirt all day so there consuming dirt, maybe they don't like there dirt dry so add water = mud there fine

 

[chookchick]

It is probably a good idea to keep the young ones from dirty water. I had a problem with cocci, ever since I have kept their water scrupulously clean. The older ones--I do what I can to keep their water clean, but they do like to clean the muddy drips up! What are you going to do?

 

[fiberart57]

Right now in this cold, I'm using a heated dog watering dish for them in their run under the house. Naturally, being chickens, they scratch dirt, hay, grains, food, etc into it so I have to change it out frequently. When I do, I'll dump the leftover water on a shrub nearby and with the frozen ground a little puddle forms. They all run to the puddle, pathetically peeping, and start drinking from that despite the fact that the very same water was recently in a nice bowl for them.

They just have their own way of doing things.

Mary

 

[kcsunshine]

Thank goodness - finally someone who feels like I do. Try as I might, I can't keep their water clean and as soon as I put fresh clean water, they run over and drink out of the dirty waterer I am trying to take out of the run.

 

[stewames]

On the same note, but as for food: I was told to never give them anything with the slightest hint of mold. I was told it would kill them. Yet I compost kitchen scraps and those moldy science experiments you find hidden in the back of the fridge now and then. The girls make a point of getting through my "security " system of my garden gate where the compost is, and eating the moldy sloppy muck in the pile. I bury it and they dig it up. They LOVE the compost pile. Is mold dangerous to them? If it is I will make sure to put any moldy things in the trash can and avoid the compost pile.

 

[chookchick]

All I can to that is that I have seen photos of chickens raised at a composting facility. I wish I could remember the name to find it. In the photos they looked pretty nice, and they were ALL OVER those nasty, rotting piles.

Regarding the dog water bowl--I have mine raised up about 3" off the floor, the sides are 6" (so total of 9"), and they don't manage to get much stuff in it. I can let it go a week without refilling or cleaning, so I am pretty happy with it, especially as I am going on vacation, and who know if my sitter will change it out.

Aha--I found a link!:
http://www.sustainablechicken.com/2009/03/05/harvey-usserys-thoughts-on-feeding-chickens/
and more-very interesting!:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/A+Paradigm+Shift.html

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

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Now that is what I like to see!
That is true sustainability.

 

[rdranch]

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Try stopping them!