Putting a piece of Copper in water to stop Algae growth?

[Al Gerhart]

They use sacrificial metal on the bottom of boats to prevent corrosion. While this question was not about corrosion, I think that the copper might work the same way so that the algae forms on it and not in the rest of the waterer. Heck I don't know....it sounded so much better and so much more relevant in my head

That was done to stop ship worms and barnacles, not corrosion, they were wooden ships.

 

[dging54]

A friend recently told me that you can put a piece of copper in your water and it will help stop algae from growing. I tried looking it up on google but couldn't find anything specifically about it. Has anyone else heard of doing this? Does it work? Could it pose any health risks to chickens?

I googled it and found tons of specific stuff on it!