Stupid question about cleaning waterers

[inchworm]

How should I be cleaning the chicken's waterer? Should I be disinfecting with bleach? Vinegar? Just elbow grease (my present method).

Inchworm

 

[patandchickens]

I basically just use elbowgrease, myself. (Same for horse waterers/buckets/tubs for many decades now, except when occasionally working at more-persnickity type barns)

Even with the occasional really nasty waterer that has been forgotten for too long, or a bucket that a horse has pooped in, just a good thorough scrubbing with adequate rinsing and then letting it dry for a day or more in direct sunlight is FINE.

To treat algal growth in a chicken waterer or horse tub, I'll scrub salt onto the still-damp waterer, let it sit in the sun for half a day or a day, then rinse real well.

The only time I genuinely think it is useful to use bleach is on a fixed automatic waterer in a horse stall (a few chicken waterer systems are somewhat comparable) where if it gets pooped in and super nasty, it is real hard to clean properly b/c it can't be removed from its mounting.

And the only time I genuinely think it is useful to use vinegar in cleaning waterers is if you're having issues of calcium buildup from hard water.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

I keep a toilet brush (that was never used in a toilet) for cleaning waterers and buckets. When I worked with horses, I preferred a handful of hay to scrub buckets because I scrubbed them often, so they never got really dirty.

Another option for nastiness is Listerine mouthwash, as it disinfects and is ok to ingest. Or white vinegar, even better.

I use a two gallon bucket to water my adult birds, I no longer mess around with those waterers made for chickens, unless I am dealing with young chicks. Once the chicks are big enough, say songbird size, I switch to a small flat feed pan, the kind made of black rubber, and I put a clean brick in it in case someone falls in. I also put a brick next to it so the smaller ones can hop up and reach the water. When they are big enough that they could easily hop out, the brick is removed. Then as they approach full size, I switch to the pail.

In the winter, I can partially bury the pail in their bedding and it stays liquid longer.

 

[FarmerChick]

Elbow grease.
I scrub away nasty. And I never let them get too nasty!!!
I hardly ever use bleach when cleaning waterers. Only if truly nasty for some reason would I bleach for a total sanitizing scrub.

 

[NurseNettie]

We use those dog waterers for our chickens ( works best during the winter because hubby designed an insulated /warmed box they stay in, with just the bowl sticking into the coop, and it doesn't freeze).
Usually we just scrub- bowl and bottle. During the summer, I will occasionally (every couple weeks) fill the jugs with a 1:10 bleach/water solution and let them sit in the sun to kill any build up of bacteria or algae, then rinse thoroughly before using again-- but only because I can't scrub inside as much as I'd like. Vinegar didn't work as well, but we use that in a pinch.

 

[miss_thenorth]

When I was a noobie chicken owner, I used bleach, ummm, maybe twice. then I saw the chickens drinking from standing water in the horses dry lot (where they poo). After that, I figured just a good scrubbing would be enough. That way is still much cleaner than poopy water, which they seem to like anyways.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Free--the toilet scrubber brush is an EXCELLENT idea--I might have to get one!

 

[JordanneDervaes]

White Vinegar is my favorite. That and a good scrubbing with hot water. I try to avoid bleach.

Because I have ducks, I'm a bit paranoid about keeping the waterers clean -- when the weather gets hot I don't want any toxic alge!

And there is no such thing as a stupid question, btw.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't do mine on a regular basis....just whenever I feel like they are too grody to be hand rinsed. Then I use a little soap, a dab of bleach and a bottle scrubber~they seem to be a little more sturdy than a toilet bowl scrubber for me and they have the bristles on the head like the TB scrubber, so they are perfect.

Then I keep vinegar in the water at all times to keep the slimys down, if ya know what I mean.

The sheep seem more particular about their water than the other animals, so their bucket gets a closer inspection and more frequent cleaning. The chickens and dogs will drink out of any old mudhole, so they don't seem too picky about cleanliness.

 

[Big Daddy]

I don't do mine on a regular basis....just whenever I feel like they are too grody to be hand rinsed. Then I use a little soap, a dab of bleach and a bottle scrubber~they seem to be a little more sturdy than a toilet bowl scrubber for me and they have the bristles on the head like the TB scrubber, so they are perfect.

Then I keep vinegar in the water at all times to keep the slimys down, if ya know what I mean.

The sheep seem more particular about their water than the other animals, so their bucket gets a closer inspection and more frequent cleaning. The chickens and dogs will drink out of any old mudhole, so they don't seem too picky about cleanliness.

The only animals we have that are picky are the inside cats. We have 2 sinks in our master bath. I always keep one full of water for the kittys. I drain and refill it every 2 days because it gets slimy. I clean the horse tanks when they get slimy. Back when we used alfalfa bales instead of cubes our Perch would stick it in the water before she ate it. That really trashed the water. The chickens don't care.