Should chicken water ever smell like sewage

[Happy hen lover]

Thank you @All4Eggz for clarifying. I'm new to this but I also tend to geek out and my OCD kicks in so when I clean those waterers I CLEAN them. Even if there are 5 of them and each one takes me 15'. So be it! I think they need (and deserve) clean water. Plus I am also suspicious that some of the diseases we're dealing with have to do with dirty water. Maybe not. There are other dirty things they could be getting diseases from. Flies. Mosquitoes. Maggots. Wet chicken run. Rainy humid weather. :/

Maybe clean with vinegar? She might be open to that and residue won't hurt them in fact might help keep cleaner. Just a thought

 

[All4Eggz]

Thank you @All4Eggz for clarifying. I'm new to this but I also tend to geek out and my OCD kicks in so when I clean those waterers I CLEAN them. Even if there are 5 of them and each one takes me 15'. So be it! I think they need (and deserve) clean water. Plus I am also suspicious that some of the diseases we're dealing with have to do with dirty water. Maybe not. There are other dirty things they could be getting diseases from. Flies. Mosquitoes. Maggots. Wet chicken run. Rainy humid weather. :/

No problem.

Do you take care of someone else's chickens?

 

[All4Eggz]

Maybe clean with vinegar? She might be open to that and residue won't hurt them in fact might help keep cleaner. Just a thought

I'm pretty sure the owner would only accept a substance that is excreted from natural plants exclusively grown in the Amazon Rainforest to clean the waterer..
lol
Yes vinegar would be a great idea. Check with the owner and let us know what she says.

 

[sheken]

I might try the vinegar on the smaller plastic waterers. Good idea.

I've heard that vinegar on the galvanized metal ones is no bueno. Also, 2 of the metal ones are painted blue so I wonder if they can tolerate the vinegar use repeatedly? The paint is not coming off yet, least not in the circular area that holds the water for the chickens to drink.

Oddly enough, the 2 galvanized metal ones are already showing rust signs.

They are technically "our" chickens even though they are really hers, my fiancee's. Me, I just pitch in and help out...sometimes. Natural? Just a marketing term to hype up sales.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I was looking for validation as to whether water should smell "funky" or as I said, "sewagy". I myself would not drink that crap. I'm not around on a daily basis so I don't clean them out daily. But every time that I do clean them out they smell! They are the "tray" kind, you know the outer ring with a center reservoir per se. I do not use any bleach or soap or such b/c I'm sure that would freak out their owner. I just scrub them down really really good with a rag. It takes some time but I don't mind.

When I asked her how often she's cleaning them she said "almost daily". Hmn...argument brewing. Her logic is that they smell bad because that's what chickens do! I can't win against that. I don't even wanna counter it anymore. Whatever.

But I thought I'd ask some more objective unbiased and unemotionally involved parties. Thanks all!

I was interested in those nipple waterers but she was not. They are not "natural" for a how chickens drink out in the wild. Well, okay.

I chicken sat for someone like this and did exactly what you're doing and sometimes even washed it out with soap. She said the algae growing in the waterers wouldn't hurt them but I never let mine get green and I clean them with soap regularly. Some people are just like that I guess.

 

[Morrigan]

I go by smell more than appearance, and if it reeks something isn't right. I'm on well water, and that might make a difference, but it's been my experience that the plastic waterers that grow algae actually smell better, and the chickens like them better, then the one's that don't (galvanized metal or waterers in total shade).

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've heard that vinegar on the galvanized metal ones is no bueno. Also, 2 of the metal ones are painted blue so I wonder if they can tolerate the vinegar use repeatedly? The paint is not coming off yet, least not in the circular area that holds the water for the chickens to drink.

Oddly enough, the 2 galvanized metal ones are already showing rust signs.

Vinegar shouldn't be used on metal waterers. Guess you'll have to settle for gently rubbing/scrubbing and rinsing those.

 

[3KillerBs]

Oddly enough, the 2 galvanized metal ones are already showing rust signs.

This is why I only use plastic waterers.

Too many pieces of galvanized equipment are cheap with coating that's too thin. My first waterer was galvanized and rusted in only a year.

 

[froggyphore]

mine sometimes smell like algae but never sewage lol. could you sneakily clean them or would she notice? i scrub the tray of mine with soap every 1-2 weeks and have never had problems.

 

[LaFleche]

Hanging the water dispensers or setting them up on bricks or a plastic box, so they will be at the same level as the chickens' back, should help to keep them cleaner.

I would not use galvanized or painted (lead poisoning?) water dispensers, just plastic or china/porcelain ones that are much easier to clean.