Ok to use new Garden Hoses for water??

[Enjaytoo]

Ok, this may be a silly question but I'll ask anyway. I bought some new, black 15 foot "Garden" hoses from HD...plan was to attach to coupler for ease of watering both pens..anyway, as I'm getting ready to set up this morning, I see on the hose label "do not drink water from this hose" and "contains lead" etc etc.... Its been a long time since I've got new hoses so I guess I never even considered it with my old one, but now that I have hens again, I'm wondering....and I've only gotten one egg so far but if I use the hoses, will we be in danger with eating eggs/lead? And of course I dont want the birds to be in danger either...Help?

 

[txredneckmedic]

i use a standard water hose for all my animals....hell i even get a drink out of them.

 

[KellyHM]

I've never had a problem, but I've never read the labels either.

 

[becky3086]

Most labels cover the most extreme thing that "might" possibly cause a problem (nobody likes to get sued). Most of the time there is nothing to worry about. I have a hose running to a sink to feed all my chickens. We have gone through several hoses without a problem.

 

[Enjaytoo]

Ok, this is all good to hear, and I am going to use them...I'll just make certain to flush it out for a minute before filling up the bowls (need to anyway, its like boiling hot water at first...gotta love AZ Thanks for the input!!

 

[rdranch]

We sell garden hoses as part of our job. The warning on the label of the hose you bought was a result of of somebody in the west coast that found out that lead is a part of the manufacturing process. Hoses have been made the same way for a long time and the process has been refined over the years. Truth be told any hose you buy will NOT make you or any other organisim ill from the materials it contains. The main concern is bacteria and other "cooties" that could live and grow in a hose. That beening said we don't EVER put our dozens of hoses inside during the off season and none of us here have ever had a problem with drinking water from any hose that is outside.

Drink to your hearts content!!!!!