Tap water for chicks/ducklings/goslings

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Your State Agricultural College and your local County Health Department should offer water testing kits. You collect the sample(s) per the directions, and either drop them off yourself, or mail them in expedited. The timing is important, the sample(s) must be fresh.

@MeepBeep is correct, chlorine does evaporate out after time.

In fact, regular chlorine bleach can be used to sanitize water for human consumption, in extreme cases. I really hate to give figures here on the chance that I am incorrect, but just google "using chlorine bleach for clean drinking water" and you should locate that info yourself.

Seems to me that I read on Metzer's website that chlorinated water is safe for ducklings. Again, go read there.

Finally, in general, I have a problem with bottled water. Say it comes from a "Spring" or even simply another city's Municipal Source. Seems like it's trading apples for apples to me.

Get a proper State and County Certified water test and just put your mind at ease.

 

[MeepBeep]

In fact, regular chlorine bleach can be used to sanitize water for human consumption, in extreme cases.

That is actually the origins of chlorine disinfection of potable water... Homeless people found out that if they snagged a freshly tossed out bleach bottle they could fill it with whatever water they found and the remaining bleach residue in the bottle would make it relatively safe to drink... I read an article that this was a real common practice during The Great Depression...

Finally, in general, I have a problem with bottled water. Say it comes from a "Spring" or even simply another city's Municipal Source. Seems like it's trading apples for apples to me.

This is very true, the FDA allows plain old municipal tap water to be bottled and sold without any filtering or processing, so you never know what you are getting unless the label has a breakdown of impurities... That is why I would recommend reverse osmosis filtered water or distilled water, but as I said these water types lack the trace elements so you have to supplement...

 

[RonP]

As a child, I raised aquarium freshwater fish.
Our city water was chlorinated, heavily in the winter due to runoff.

I used to fill a five gallon bucket with tap water, insert an aquarium air pump line with a fine bubbler in the bucket.

The aeration would evaporate the chlorine within hours, I waited over night.
I never had a problem with the water quality even with delicate fish.

 

[MeepBeep]

As a child, I raised aquarium freshwater fish.
Our city water was chlorinated, heavily in the winter due to runoff.

I used to fill a five gallon bucket with tap water, insert an aquarium air pump line with a fine bubbler in the bucket.

The aeration would evaporate the chlorine within hours, I waited over night.
I never had a problem with the water quality even with delicate fish.

That used to work well (and still will) when municipal water has straight up chlorine (this is why I recommend you contact your water supplier and inquire about the disinfectant they use) nowadays most municipal water companies use chloramine as it doesn't gas out as fast and thus last longer and they can use less... It can literally take several days if not weeks for chloramine to gas out of treated water...

 

[RonP]

Good to know.

I've been on well water these last 18 years and did not know of the changes.

 

[ChickenJerk]

Water chlorinated to to the level required for municipal water systems will not harm waterfowl at all. Besides as soon as the poop in it or it comes into any part of their body the chlorine becomes deactivated because of oxidation with organics.
If you are still frightened by the alarmists just fill the pool by using a sprayer on the hose and the chlorine free radicals in the water escape into the air.
BTW what you are smelling may not be an indication of active chlorine in the water. In fact it may be the active agents leaving the water.

 

[RoboDuck]

Ok, looks like I just need to check the water to be sure and then move on. We are just checking everything we can think of to explain the deaths.

Every breeder has told us low protein for geese so we feed 16% . We feed all waterfowl non medicated. They get to graze on fresh grass. No pesticides used around them. Kept warm at night/shaded during the day. WTH?!

And we lost our last cpg last night. Fine (or so she seemed) yesterday, dead this morning. Not attacked by anything, just dead in the cage.

 

[MeepBeep]

Besides as soon as the poop in it or it comes into any part of their body the chlorine becomes deactivated because of oxidation with organics.
If you are still frightened by the alarmists just fill the pool by using a sprayer on the hose and the chlorine free radicals in the water escape into the air.

False and False...

Chlorine just doesn't go *poof* because you touch the water or poop in the water, sure some does but only a small amount... Also again, there is s huge difference between chlorine and chloramine, chloramine is far less reactive, it's worlds harder to get out of the water... Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia, it's already been reacted with ammonia, adding more doesn't make it disappear, it simply doesn't react with 'poop' or ammonia the same was as regular chlorine does as it has already done that...

Using a sprayer will not release the chloramine that is commonly used nowadays, chloramine doesn't just go *poof* it's very stable and thus the reason it's become the standards as it stays in the water for weeks, even in open exposed tanks, unlike chlorine that generally evaporate in short... If you want to remove chloramine effectively it needs to be either neutralized with a reactive chemical like sodium thiosulfate that converts it to chlorine and ammonia and allows the chlorine to gas to then evaporate out or use a reactive carbon or long exposure active carbon filter...

Again I stress, know what your water is treated with if you have concerns... Things have changed over the last decade, the chlorine in municipal water is not the same as it was several years ago, what used to work to rid the chlorine in water no longer works with chloramine...

If you don't believe me Google to you hearts content about chloramine water treatment and removal and the differences between traditional chlorine water treatment and the new standard chloramine...

I will agree that the amounts are low and should not cause any harm to most larger living creatures, but it does play havoc with smaller organisms that in turn could cause issues... This is what happens in most fish tanks, the chlorine itself causes little harm to the fish, instead it kills off all the beneficial bacteria in the tank that in turn ends up killing the fish as the beneficial bacteria is no longer removing the toxins in the water like ammonia, and that ammonia now builds up to a lethal level and kills the fish...

 

[ChickenJerk]

MeepBeep
Pretty much agree with you. Your understanding of the chemistry is better than most. In the end we offer the same advice. "Don't worry about it"
I am not well versed in some aspects of chloramine. Your information is enlightening.
Remember that many people reading here are going to be using "chlorine bleach" and applying different levels of understanding and practice.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Not to complicate matters, but there is also the use of Oxygen for purification. (O3, I believe, but don't quote me on that). And furthermore, there is a lot more to the process of water purification than simply chlorine. You also should be looking at pH and filtration, etc etc etc. bottom line is it seems that I and the others here agree that you you water as the source of these problems/deaths is unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. Soooooo....

@RoboDuck I think you need a vet to do a proper necropsy. I think that is the only thing that is going to give you a conclusive answer.