Purple mold in waterer???

[thehainline5]

We have a 5gal bucket with the nipple system attached. I started adding ACV to their water about a week and a half ago. Today i went out and checked and the water was full of this strange purple mold!! Now i am very worried about my chickens!

 

[Michael Apple]

Why are you using ACV? People often flush their water lines with citric acid to clean them out. I use containers and clean them out with Oxine AH. It prevents algae from finding a home in the waterers.

 

[thehainline5]

Someone told me to give them apple cider vinegar in their water. To help with lots of things... It didnt help :/

 

[centrarchid]

"Purple mold" is likely a photosynthetic bacteria of some sort. Such bacteria are normally associated with relatively extreme chemical conditions and make their living using a combination of photosynthesis and metabolizing either organic or inorganic compounds in the environment. The vinegar in bucket could easily supply the organism's needs.

 

[Michael Apple]

Since it isn't metal, you could just clean it out with salt or copper sulfate, and scrub brush or sponge that gunk out of there. I find myself having to scrub clean my waterers about once a week. I spray a little Oxine in there, scrub them out, and rinse them. It should be done more often when using supplements in water. I do this with trough feeders too. I dump the remaining water at night when I lock up birds and rinse out waterers with a high pressure hose, then refill the next morning. I think lots of folks tend to overlook cleaning out waterers daily.