Why do you guys give your chickens apple cider vinegar?

[Beekissed]

Far as I know, ACV doesn't come in doses. You can give it daily and it doesn't really matter how much...if you put in too much, they won't drink the water much. If you put in too much and they won't drink, put in less until they do...then that's the dosage.

 

[attila the mum]

so how much acv per litre of water...yes an aussie here hence the litre thing or how much per gallon i will do the conversion

also someone mentioned to me to put some garlic in the water too...anyone know why this is?

 

[moon kiss]

I put acv in the water or a tiny splash of bleach or vitamins. Whatever it seems like they need. I mostly bleach in the summer when the heat grows bacteria like crazy. I also put diatomaceous earth in their regular feed. Once a week, I let their feeder run out and when they are hungry, they will eat rooster booster chicken vitamin pellets. They are the shiniest feathered, hardest shell laying hens I've seen. Oh and they get lots of high protein meal worms as treats. It's like chicken crack!
I think the acv helps them metabolize the oyster shell calcium too. Anyway, my rambling point is to do what works for your birds in your situation on any given day. You'll see a lot of tips here. Try them till you find the formula that makes your birds healthy and happy. I vote YES to ACV. Definitely worth a try

 

[startingover]

I put acv in the water or a tiny splash of bleach or vitamins. Whatever it seems like they need. I mostly bleach in the summer when the heat grows bacteria like crazy. I also put diatomaceous earth in their regular feed. Once a week, I let their feeder run out and when they are hungry, they will eat rooster booster chicken vitamin pellets. They are the shiniest feathered, hardest shell laying hens I've seen. Oh and they get lots of high protein meal worms as treats. It's like chicken crack!
I think the acv helps them metabolize the oyster shell calcium too. Anyway, my rambling point is to do what works for your birds in your situation on any given day. You'll see a lot of tips here. Try them till you find the formula that makes your birds healthy and happy. I vote YES to ACV. Definitely worth a try

Why would you use bleach?? Would your drink it? I certainly wouldn't. Last time I checked, it was listed as TOXIC. If you have research to prove otherwise, please share it.

Use Oxine instead. It's is more effective than bleach and safe to use and approved for ingestion in it's unactivated state.

 

[Beekissed]

so how much acv per litre of water...yes an aussie here hence the litre thing or how much per gallon i will do the conversion

also someone mentioned to me to put some garlic in the water too...anyone know why this is?

Garlic is just a antihelminth that folks interested in natural husbandry use and is also an immunity booster as well. For the measurements? One glug per one litre/gallon. A glug is that sound that your jug will make as you tip it up and let it flow....although if you are a cautious person, yours might be more of a glorp. Glorp or glug, it doesn't matter.

I put acv in the water or a tiny splash of bleach or vitamins. Whatever it seems like they need. I mostly bleach in the summer when the heat grows bacteria like crazy. I also put diatomaceous earth in their regular feed. Once a week, I let their feeder run out and when they are hungry, they will eat rooster booster chicken vitamin pellets. They are the shiniest feathered, hardest shell laying hens I've seen. Oh and they get lots of high protein meal worms as treats. It's like chicken crack!
I think the acv helps them metabolize the oyster shell calcium too. Anyway, my rambling point is to do what works for your birds in your situation on any given day. You'll see a lot of tips here. Try them till you find the formula that makes your birds healthy and happy. I vote YES to ACV. Definitely worth a try

Bleach?

Trust me on this issue, please, for I know of which I speak....you can have shiny, healthy chickens without the use of bleach, DE, vitamins, etc. The simple ACV will do...but most certainly the bleach is not a needful thing for anyone's animal husbandry. The ACV will take care of any water bugs in the summer time.

 

[TTeddy]

ACV is unavailable here in Western Australia, probably until late Janurary

 

[Beekissed]

You can order it online in a jiffy....many sites online that sell mother vinegar. I can't even imagine a place that doesn't have vinegar available...somewhere.

Do the stores just not carry such an item? Nobody cans or pickles anything there?

 

[moon kiss]

Wow, I'm surprised at the negative reaction to bleach in water. I live in a hot climate- 8 straight weeks of triple digits this year. After dealing with a bacterial infection two summers ago, my Vet recommended 1tsp per 5 gal of water as needed in the heat of summer. I also thoroughly wash every time I change water. It's the same dose of bleach in water that the CDC recommends to sanitize human drinking water.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/personal.html

Anyway, my original point was, you'll get a lot of advice on how to raise your chickens. But depending on your birds, climate, and all of your circumstances, you will have to decide what works for you. And I did give a thumbs up to ACV which was the original question. I think it's worth a try. It works for me and if it works for you, it is good in moderation. I never meant to ruffle any feathers (pun intended.)

 

[Beekissed]

Wouldn't it be an option to use nipple waterers to prevent contamination of the water by debris and birds and just use ACV to keep the water nice? I know folks use bleach in livestock water and all and it probably doesn't hurt anything but....it's pretty harsh. I don't drink chlorinated water, though I know that many do...just wonder what that does to creatures over time.

No worries....no feathers ruffled, just caught us by surprise.

 

[startingover]

Bleach in the water is the exact reason why I avoid straight clorinated "city" water at all costs. Just because the FDA says it's safe, doesn't mean that it does. FDA approves drug - drug kills 100 people, FDA pulls drug and says "oops! Sorry!!" I stopped at the store to see what the bleach bottle said "HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED". It doesn't say "small, regulated doses are ok".

While my house is hooked up to city water, I also have a system to regulate and treat the water with oxine along with filtration systems. I don't want all that crap in my water - I certainly don't want to drink it or cook with it.

My animals never drink the city water - they are watered through the cisterns.

But I DO know that there are many many reasons to control bacteria and slime in water - which is WHY they started treating water to begin with. Look into Oxine - it takes care of it all - and I love ACV too! Oxine will keep the bacteria and slime out of your waterers.

It's interesting the way animals react to different types of water. I've done my own little studies. I have 3 identical waters - in one I put straight (not oxine treated or filtered) city water, one straight cistern/rain water, and one cistern/rain water with oxine. I had let these tanks go empty for several hours and knew that everyone would be ready for a drink. Each cow and horse sniffed each tank and all of them drank from the oxine treated cistern/rain water, then the straight cistern/rain water tank and it was HOURS before any of them choose to drink the city water one. I've tried the same thing with my cats - one bowl of straight city water and one filtered and treated. They always go for the filtered and treated one.

I think animals are smarter than we are.