Nearly 20 years keeping and raising chickens, we have
learned a lot and are still learning. We discovered apple cider vinegar a few
years back when we drastically increased hatching chicks for our newest venture
in chick sales. When you are hatching thousands of chicks, you tend to run into
various health issues. When you keep a large number of chicks in a brooder, the
cleanliness of that brooder is essential to the chick’s health. The dust
created by a large number of chicks eating, drinking and pooping will challenge
a chick’s immune system.
Besides the importance of keeping their environment clean, you have to help them combat anything that may tax their immune systems. We have found that a few drops of apple cider vinegar with the ‘mother’ in their waterer will help a newly hatched chick start their lives off right by helping them boost their immune system and to flush away any toxins that may be introduced to their systems through their environment. Putting apple cider vinegar in your chicks or chickens waterers will also keep the bacteria down on the waterer itself
Apple cider vinegar does come with and without the ‘mother’.
The mother refers to strands of protein, enzymes and good bacteria that is
present in unfiltered or unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. This is the most
important aspect and most beneficial part of the apple cider vinegar for
chicken health. These raw enzymes and bacteria help the stomach process foods
more efficiently and fight off bad bacteria that might slow down the digestion
process or allow toxins to weaken a bird.
Chicks and chickens are very susceptible to getting respiratory
problems from their environment, other chickens and even wild birds. Apple
cider vinegar will fight many of the germs that cause these respiratory issues.
The normal mixture with water is 1 Tablespoon per gallon. Don’t worry about ‘overdosing’
them since this is an all-natural product. You will know if you put too much
because the chickens won’t want to drink it. Moderation with anything is always
best. With the small ‘mason jar’ type waterers I will put a couple drops from
the bottle after shaking it up good.
You can make your own Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother
using cut up apples and a few other ingredients. Here is a link to an excellent step by step
recipe from Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily.
Thank you,
The Hatching House
