Providing Clean and Safe Water

[U_Stormcrow]

I remember reading that old copper pennies (Wheaties?) or small copper fittings help to discourage algae. Not sure if it’s true or safe for chickens.

Elemental copper is an antibacterial. In small quantity, its not only safe, but necessary.

That said, there is very very little copper left in a modern penny, a lot of things much less palatable in a penny (or on it), and - once a layer of surface oxidization forms - no copper is exposed to further retard bacterial growth. The large cuantity of zinc in the penny - another trace metal - is similar to that used to protect the galvanized bucket.

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/coins/fun-facts/category/penny

You do know what happens when two dissimilar metals are connected by water or make contact in a circuit, right???

Not being a qualified metalurgist, this is a high school chemistry experiment I would prefer not to routinely practice in my bird's drinking water. Its enough that I collect rainfall off of a galvanized roof and store in 275 gal poly totes (THICKLY painted to reduce UV penetration. Drained and cleaned yearly - and is that ever a pain!)

 

[Sally PB]

Does anyone put a small amount of ACV in their waterer in the summer? I'm talking 2-4 tablespoons per gallon. The ACV supposedly lowers the pH of the water, making it less hospitable to algae.

I used some homemade kombucha in a 1 gallon HN waterer, and have seen no algae. I'm on well, so no chlorine. The water goes through a softener and an iron filter before it comes out the tap.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Slightly altering the pH with the addition of a CV merely makes the water less hospitable to some microbes while making it more hospitable to others. Grandpa'd oh, few of those others should naturally be in your water supply, but the amount of a CV added to a gallon of water hardly moves the pH. Kombucha benefits both in the alteration of pH and the establishment of natural yeasts and bacteria, same idea as yogurt, which van helped by sheer number to prevent others from colonizing to dangerous levels. Additionally, traditional kombucha is very mildly alcoholic. Between about 1 and 1.5% alcohol by volume. That's similar to a medieval table beer. Alcoholic enough to kill many common pathogens, but not enough to get you drunk. So I guess kombucha actually benefits three ways.

Using speech to text as I pause with the chainsaw. I'll fix the spelling and grammar later. In the interim, please enjoy the game of guessing what I was trying to say. Thanks

 

[Sally PB]

Grandpa'd oh,

= Granted though,
Took me a minute. Made me smile. Thanks.

 

[CedarLane]

We are happy with our heated nipple waterer from Premier 1. It definitely helps keep the water cleaner. Dirty waterers were my least favorite chicken chore.

 

[Hip Hillbilly Acres]

Do you scrub out the dish in between water changes? I’m not really sure if there’s any solution that will be 100% algae free without adding chemicals that probably shouldn’t be consumed, and even then, will only slow the growth of said algae.
What @JacinLarkwell said is true - keeping whatever you use out of sunlight is going to be the most effective in keeping your dishes clean. I use a covered bucket with horizontal nipples, it’s white plastic but quite thick and has a cord that can be stowed away when not needing to heat the water during the winter. Easy to clean and I’ve not had to scrub out algae often because I keep it in the shade (the chickens like having cooler water too).

Uwww, I wish I could see this!

 

[Gezellige_Poes]

Hello, I've tried a few different things for water. I have had luck with DIY buckets with nipples on it, but noticed the buckets were green at the end of the summer. I have used the water jug types that use gravity, but those are also plastic and tend to get slimy. I've had most luck with the galvanized gravity waterer, but my smaller one rusted out when I dumped it to put water in in the morning and over night the little bit of water left over rusted it. So that's $30 down the drain. I have the larger one and a bucket waterer right now but I want them to have more drinking locations without me buying things that get thrown out after a month or two.

What recommendations do you guys have? I am interested in the pvc pipe type waterers with nipples on them, do these work well and do they have problems with algae? Does anyone have tips or tricks for getting a longer lasting waterers that can provide safe and clean water?

You could try adding a little apple cider vinegar to the water. It's good for the health of your chickens and will kill algae.

 

[raingarden]

Don't worry about the green stuff growing in the water. Do worry if there is a pinkish tinge because that means there are Pseudomonas bacteria present and they can potentially be toxic.

Plastic pipe and plastic containers leach plasticizers into the water. When plastic gets bittle it is because the plasticizers have been oxidized or leached away. It's probably too late for humanity and poultry to be worring about it, but some plasticizers can be toxic. Think BPA.

Copper pipes do not normally leach much copper into the water because the inside of the pipe develops a coating of scale that seals it. But, if there is a big pH shift the scale can be dissolved away and has to reform.

The whole lead poisoning from lead pipe distribution systems in recent years occurred through a similar process.

I have a girpe with backyard hose manufacturers. So much stuff leaches out of a new water hose that the water is unpalatable and probably dangerous. They could do better if they wanted to.