Well-water question...

[TouchO'Lass]

I'm here in the PACNORWEST in what is called high desert. I live in the foothills/valley and we have an AWESOME well, except that it has a lot of salt and calcium. (We used to have both calcium and epsom mines above us.)

The water passes all the county requirements for potable water, but even with my cast iron gut, I find it makes my stomach hurt to drink it. I use a water dispenser and just buy the 3 gallon jugs for less than $1.50 and that's what my chicks have been getting, but these ladies are wearing me out making runs to the store.

They're 3 weeks now, and I was thinking of gradually mixing my tap water with the bottled water and watching closely, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with similar. I guess I was mostly concerned about the calcium...

Ideas?

 

[debid]

Well, I'd suggest a rain barrel if you hadn't included that part about living in a desert.

I can't imagine having to buy water by the jug for farm animals. I mean, they drink from puddles and pick at poop, you know? I'd try giving them the well water and seeing if they tolerate it. If not, there must be a cheaper way to provide additional filtration to your water supply.

 

[Emmalion]

Have you tried to get a britta water filter thing for your tap. It will filter the water as it comes out and should greatly help with the excess minerals.

 

[TouchO'Lass]

Thanks for the ideas. A LOT of locals higher in the mountains have huge rainwater collection reservoirs because they can't find water in the rock.

It's not really desert in the typical sense, but our avg rainfall is pretty low (avg annual of 11.5 inch). For 6 months out of the year, we have irrigation water for the orchards that comes from the river and when that turns on (soon), I'll use that. When it turns off this fall, the ladies will be old enough that the calcium level won't concern me and they'll be getting straight well.

I've just read so much about NOT giving the little ones calcium, I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with hard well-water and young chicks. I plan to start doing half and half and just watch closely...

Sure glad that's not an issue with my horses, lol!!!

 

[ryan820]

I don't suggest a brita... it really doesn't remove anything and with the high amount of dissolved solids in your, a consumer-grade filter won't do a single thing in terms of the actual health of your water.

Have you considered an RO/DI unit? I have one for my well, though my water is quite good. I got it for my marine aquarium that requires very good water. Anyway, you can expect to pay between 100-200 for one but it'll give you water that tastes wonderful and the waste water can still be used to water things like your garden or plants.

 

[suzeqf]

i have well water but so far so good have you tried boiling it when my daughter was a baby we lived in town as were on city water(nasty stuff) and she would get awful tummy aches and once i started boiling the water they went away

 

[MydearWatson]

I'm hopping on this since I have a similar issue. I was planning on buying bottled water for the chicks when they are young just to be safe. But a long term solution would be great.

I will have to look up RO/DI since I have no clue what it is!

 

[gtche98]

RO = Reverse Osmosis
DI = Deionization

If you didnt already have a high sodium load in the water, you could have used a water softener to remove the calcium, but other than a distillation system, these are the only types of products that will get both the calcium and the sodium out of the water.

 

[TouchO'Lass]

Ryan wrote:

Have you considered an RO/DI unit? I have one for my well, though my water is quite good. I got it for my marine aquarium that requires very good water. Anyway, you can expect to pay between 100-200 for one but it'll give you water that tastes wonderful and the waste water can still be used to water things like your garden or plants.

Okay, so here's the deal: My CHICKS will have a finished home before I do, lol!! DH and I built our cabin/cottage = 'cabbage' from the ground up, but we had to move in prior to originally planned. He installed a top of the line filter system, and the backwash goes out to a livestock tub that my dogs consider their private swimming hole.

The RO part of it will go under my kitchen sink cabinet, which has yet to be finished. I really hope it fixes the calcium issue, I know it will handle the salt, but in the meantime, I have one of those water coolers like you see in businesses and I just keep refilling the big jugs. The water is CHEAP, less than 50 cents a gallon and I'm not toting a bunch of plastic bottles to the landfill. Tried a Brita early on, but wasn't impressed...

MyDearWatson: RO is 'reverse osmosis', and it is tha poo poo! (That's Navy talk for 'Super'

) The military uses a portable version called a ROWPU (reverse osmosis water purification unit) so they can set up camp next to a natural water source, toss the intake lines in the river and filter the water. If you saw the old move Stripes (Pauly Shore), that's what those guys were doing.

I'm not entirely sure what DI stands for (de-ionizing?), but DE (diatomaceous earth) also makes an awesome water filter and those systems are frequently used for public swimming pools and in homes on a much smaller scale. They're not cheap for a whole house, but if you want to avoid the salt mess, one of the above is the way to go.

Thanks again, folks, for all the input. I know I'll calm down once they're all feathered and out in their coop happily producing my bref'est, but this being my first go at chickering, I want to give 'em the best start I can!

Whoops! While I was writing this novelette, gtche was all over it! lol Thanks!​

 

[Judy]

You're quie right bring concerned about young chicks getting too much calcium, but I'd be concerned about the sodium, too, in the long run. Perhaps you can find some guidelines for what quantity would be acceptable.

Not quite sure how boiling would help minerals unless they stick to the pot or something -- now distilling would do the trick.