Apple Cider Vinegar for Chickens: How Much and Why
Apple cider vinegar for chickens has become a hot topic among chicken owners. How much and why? Is it safe? Is it a cure-all? Let’s dive in to find out!
What Is Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
Apple cider vinegar, also referred to as ACV, is a type of vinegar made by fermenting crushed apples, sugar, and sometimes a starter culture like yeast. It is slightly acidic and contains acetic acid.
Natural vinegars, such as natural ACV, contain trace elements of vitamins and minerals, as well as probiotic bacteria! During the fermentation process, acetic acid is formed along with gut-friendly bacteria cultures.
When consumed, apple cider vinegar provides some benefits to your chicken flock. I don’t agree that it is a cure-all solution for all things chicken health, but I have seen improvements in my flock when using it.
What are the Benefits for Chickens?
Humans have long touted apple cider vinegar as a cure-all, with the majority of the evidence being anecdotal.
Unfortunately, with many natural remedies, the funding for extensive studies just doesn’t happen, so we have to use our best anecdotal evidence!
Fortunately, apple cider, when used in moderation, carries very little risk. So you don’t have to worry if you’d like to try it for yourself. It can be used as a supplement or tonic, for your backyard chickens, without much worry of doing something wrong to hurt them.
While some people have hefty claims when it comes to the benefits of ACV in their flock, I mostly notice smaller benefits on a regular basis.
When used sparingly, and intentionally, as a part of a balanced chicken diet, ACV can:
- Help to increase the acidity level and lower the pH levels in the chicken’s gut. This can help raise a chicken’s resistance to infection by becoming a less hospitable host for pathogens and harmful bacteria.
- Aid in digestion by helping to break down and convert their food more efficiently. This can help prevent digestive tract issues like pasty butt in chicks or sour crop in your flock.
- Can help to prevent build up of algae and pathogens in your chickens’ water
What Kind of Apple Cider Vinegar Should I Use?
It’s true that there are plenty of options for ACV on the market. However, not all are created equal.
Because you are trying to provide a dietary supplement or tonic to your chickens, it’s important to use a quality ACV. You aren’t going to use very much at a time anyways.
Look for unpasteurized apple cider vinegar or unfiltered acv.
The most important consideration is to use an apple cider vinegar that contains the mother, and that mother of vinegar is often removed or killed off during pasteurization or filtering.
The mother is the “good” bacteria that accumulates during the fermentation process, and it helps to keep your particular bottle of ACV alive and active for use.
If you want to know a specific brand, this one is a great option!
How Much Apple Cider Vinegar Should be Given to Chickens?
If you would like to test the benefits of apple cider vinegar for chickens in your flock, you can rest assured that it can only help, not hurt.
To try adding apple cider vinegar as a supplement to your chickens, use 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.
If you are concerned about your birds avoiding water with the addition of apple cider vinegar, you can provide a plain waterer as a control group next to your apple cider vinegar waterer and see what they gravitate towards more.
My birds shocked me with how much they preferred the ACV water over the plain fresh water!
Note: Be sure to use a plastic waterer as the apple cider vinegar will rust out metal waterers.
More Information on Raising Chickens
If you want to learn more about raising chickens, I have more posts on things like how to get started raising baby chicks, and more!
The Egg Flock
The Meat Birds
Learn about
Keeping Your Own Chickens
With their production of meat for the freezer, and fresh eggs daily, chickens make an ideal addition to any homestead or backyard. Tending to these feathered friends provides versatile source of ingredients for your favorite recipes. Keeping Chickens is a rewarding, and sustainable, way to embrace a more self-reliant lifestyle.
Final Thoughts on Using ACV in Your Flock
On our farm, we don’t put too much stock in cure-alls for chickens’ health, However, we do like to support our animals immune response in natural ways when it is possible.
I don’t use apple cider vinegar for my chickens to automatically make them perfectly healthy chickens. However, I do add it to my baby chicks waterers to ensure their overall health is supported during the early stages.
I also like to use ACV in my waterers on a routine basis to attempt to promote a healthy flock.
My chickens do seem to gravitate towards it over plain water, so I know they are enjoying it when they have access!
But I don’t do too much acv. Usually I only fill up my chicken’s water with the added ACV once per week for my flock’s immunity. This way they can get the health benefits of apple cider vinegar without overdoing it.
Now that you know what the overall information and benefits are for using apple cider vinegar and how we use it here, you can decide for yourself how you’d like to use it in your flock!
It really is one of the easiest ways to give your chickens a little boost!
If you have any favorite benefits from using apple cider vinegar for YOUR chickens, I’d love if you shared in the comments below for all of us fellow homesteaders!
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