To those who put vinegar in the water...

[MoniqueA]

do you have a dropper? You can feed him a little water, maybe he is too weak to drink. Also if he will drink this way, you can buy some antibiotics from the feed store real quick to give him in the water. Sorry he is so sick, poor thing

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
My rule of thumb is 2 tbsps per gallon.

Thank you SO MUCH!!!

 

[jerseygirl1]

Wait till you see how soft and fluffy they get frmo drinking the ACV in their water? OMG, EVERYONE compliments me on my birds!

 

[ABHanna4d]

Is ACV good for goats to drink too?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Will ACV help get rid of mites? I have a buff silkie hen that has mites really bad. I have her in a pen by herself and I gave her some water with ACV in it. I also put some stuff on her mites. I may give her a bath later today. Anything else I should do?Thanks for your help.

 

[jerseygirl1]

It's more of a tonic than a cure, not sure about the mites

Here's a link about ACV for animals, including goats

http://bragg.com/healthinfo/healthypets.html

 

[TheReidHomestead]

I've read that you should only add vinegar to the water if using plastic waterers, that the acid will eat away at the metal waterers. What are people's opinions on this? I have been giving it to my chicks, but most of our waterer's outside with the older birds are metal, so I have held off putting it in them.

 

[MissJenny]

Vinegar removes the zinc coating on galvanized containers... but at a few drops per gallon it would take forever.

As for mites -- mites are a serious health risk for chickens. Chickens regularly die from a mite infestation. They need to be treated immediately. I keep a bag of Sevin dust on hand for just such an emergency -- and to be prepared for when they take it off the market.

Jenny

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I don't have any metal waterers, only plastic so I wouldn't know?

 

[JimWWhite]

I don't know about the direct health benefits that people have been posting here, but it sounds right. At the least I don't see how it can hurt your hens. I've been using it for the last 18 months in my run mainly because it prevents algae build up in my waterer. I have one of the big 4 or 5 gallon plastic waterer with the screw off black lid and red base and I was getting terrible algae early on when I started keeping chickens. I read somewhere to add 1/4 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar to the water to help with algae and it did. I never have to scrub out the waterer like I used to. I do keep it clean but algae just doesn't build up. And that in itself may be a big health benefit to my chickens not having to consume algae tainted water.