Pigeonbasics.com

hi all,

why use cider vinegar?

if i was to use it how much and how often

I use cyder vinegar 30 ml to a 3 pint drinker and I normally use on a sunday after racing.
But there is nothing stopping you using it more often if you think your birds have any respiritory problem. The  original tip was printed in the BHW some time ago when the dose was printed as above but for two weeks in the winter and two weeks in june to keep their systems right.

oh right ok,

but does it do anything else apart from respiritory?

you say also keep the systems right.do u know what it does?

stu

Hope this answers your question, Piggy: Really and article aimed at human health, but you'll catch the drift OK for uses in animals and birds.

Apple cider vinegar has been known to have numerous benefits to human (and animals) health. The presence of a natural array of acids and minerals helps to maintain the body's own acid balance and mineral metabolism. In fact, it contains a balance of 19 minerals, including potassium, chlorine, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sulphur, iron, fluorine and silicon, and 93 components that can help the body. Moreover, it contains cholesterol-reducing pectin. Often, it has been used in colon and intestinal cleansing. Historically, it has been used by Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, from 400 BC to treat his patients due to its powerful cleansing, healing and germ fighting qualities.

Today, apple cider vinegar is used to to relieve or treat the following ailments (In humans):

Regulate blood pressure
Fight infection
Relieve arthritis pain
Promote Digestion
Improve Metabolism
Maintain healthy skin
Relieves sore throats, laryngitis
Moreover, it is also known that apple cider vinegar helps in some of the diseases like Nausea/Queasiness, Headaches, Muscular Aches & Pains, Sore Throats, Digestive Cleansing, Cholesterol control, Ageing, Arthritis.
All these benefits of apple cider vinegar are due to the presence of the essential substances listed below.

POTASSIUM
Potassium is essential for life and apple cider vinegar is rich in this. It is needed for the transfer of nutrients to the cells and for the removal of waster and toxic substances. It regulates the fluid in the cells and helps remove excess sodium from the cell, thereby helping to regulate blood pressure.
A diet deficient in potassium results in weak and wrinkled skin, flabby muscles, exhaustion, poor memory & heart problems.

CALCIUM
Calcium is essential for the building of strong bones and teeth. Hence it helps to prevent osteoporosis. Apple cider vinegar is not only a source of calcium, it also helps the in the uptake of other essential nutrients into the body.
A diet deficient in calcium results in weak bones which are easily fractured. However, osteoporosis is not a disease of calcium deficiency but calcium depletion.

PECTIN
Pectin is a group of water-soluble colloidal carbohydrates of high molecular weight found in ripe fruits, such as apples, plums, and grapefruit. It is a natural 'gum' so it can be used to jell various foods like jelly, drugs, and cosmetics. Now it is believed to be effective in removing cholesterol from the blood vessel walls, hence helps to reduce cholesterol level in the body.

BETA CAROTENE
Beta carotene is an isomeric form of carotene that is commonly found in nature such as plants. The body then converts it to Vitamin A. It also acts as an antioxidant and an immune booster. It is believed to fight the damaging effects of free radicals (produced during metabolic functions or introduced from the environment), prevent cancer and slow down the ageing process.


ACIDS
Apple cider vinegar contains rich sources of malic acid and citric acid. These are believed to be important in the metabolic cycle and helps to remove toxic substances that may cause painful joints and muscular pain. Hence, it is believed to relieve symptoms of arthritis and muscular pains. In fact, malic acid has been used therapeutically in combination treatment for fibromyalgia.

Wow It would be great to start taking it myself.

i think you have got to give aprobiotic after cider vineger some thing like live yogert

I do take it myself 30mls a day as I suffer from arthritus it realy helps lower the pain.
fly hard fly fair

ive used cider vinegar since 1980 and always mix honey with it

I USE CIDER VINEGAR TWICE WEEKLY IN THE WATER, I ALSO NOW AND THEN PUT ORDINARY HOUSEHOLD VINEGAR IN THE BATH WATER, IT KEEPS THE BIRDS KLEAN, ALSO GOOD FOR ANY INJURIES AND KEEPS THEIR NOSTRILS KLEAR, ANOTHER GOOD ONE FOR THE BATH IS GARLIC, I HAVE A LARGE BOTTLE WHICH I PUT CUT GARLIC IN FOR A FEW DAYS AND PUT IT IN THE BATH ALSO GOOD FOR THE BIRDS BUT ALSO KEEPS THEM KLEAN, SOME OF THIS GARLIC WATER IN A SPRAY BOTTLE IS GOOD FOR SPRAYING UR GARDEN KILLS GREEN FLY ETC,

thank-you so much for all the info,

i was thinking of using the cider-vinegar twice a week,

lets say sunday and a wendesday,

would there be any probs with this?

stu

going back to shadows comments on artheritis ,i suffer badly from related illness and on a really lot of medication, and do you know this ive a big bottle of cider vineger, i give the birds , i never even thought about taking it myself, iam now going to give it a bash regularly, nothing to lose thanks shadow

Now would that be with or without Milton, Jimmy?  
I did think about you when I saw the arthritis bit.
Mind if I use you as a guinea pig before I let the wife know?  
I'm all for natural 'remedies'...humans and pigeons.
BEST REGARDS

i use it to in the water

bruno i also noticed the aging bit,,,, i better take a double dose  ha ha
cheers   keep up the good   [hard] work.  jimmy

heres one for bruno , as he knows i like my wee experiments , ha ha ill blow the place up one day .  its like that programme on t.v HOW [ now dont start calling me geronimo]   if you put a small amount of aquas iodine in a drinker, just enough to make the water slightly discoloured, then put a half dozen baby vitamin drops in it, the water will go back to its normal colour  HOW???
  TRY IT  

I use cider vinegar in the water 2/3 times a week,all birds.I have never tryed it myself but should.We give our birds the best of health,good food,good exercize,good treatment,   what do we do for ourselfs  ?

Well Carl, I usually give myself a splitting headache
And If I don't do it, the wife does.  
And if she doesn't do it, Jimmy White certainly will.  
Mind if I pass on the last question AND the experiment Jimmy?  
Truth is I don't give the birds any supplements like vitamins or cider vinegar.  
I do use fresh garlic, but just as a policeman, 'keeping order', maybe once a week.  
Along with tap water changed at least twice per day; a grain mixture;
And black minerals, 'soft' and 'hard' grit, and crushed pickstone available 24/7.
Everything else was consigned to the bin Mid-May (Tea and Aviform Ultimate).

just to explain to any beginner, all this great expensive stuff they sell, and make a fortune from , is utterly useless for the price, i worked for one of the bigest , no sorry the dearest firms,,great labels , great made up names and great business strategy. at blackpool we were drawing 20.000  pounds in 3 days one thing i did notice, we never sold much to the   ,,greats,, only the gullable ,much of the usefull stuff can be purchased very cheaply from chemist or supermarket, and thats if you want to use it???      and bruno i would give you something for your sore head, but my parrotsetamol   his name is max  cheers matey

yes, im sticking to all the natural fresh, ie: cloves of garlic, fresh lemon, cider vinigar, thanks again all.
snowy & westy

HAVING BEEN AROUND PIGEONS ALL MY LIFE (MY GRANDFATHER HAD THEM THATS HOW I CAUGHT THE BUG) AND RACED THEM FOR OVER 35 YEARS THIS IS PROBABLE THE BEST SEASON I HAVE EVER HAD,THE THING IS I STARTED USING ALL THE SO CALLED EXPENSIVE STUFF A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO,SO IS IT A WASTE OF MONEY OR NOT.I CERTAINLY WOULD RATHER NOT PAY THE PRICES FOR SOME OF THE STUFF BUT THE QUESTION IS WOULD I STILL HAVE HAD A YEAR LIKE THIS ONE IF I HADN,T USED IT.PEOPLE SAY NEVER CHANGE A WINNING SYSTEM SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO.

your right , never change a winning system  it seems youve had a good season and all the very best to you for that  BUTi would look in to it very carefully, and after that   would ask you , do you really think it was this expensive stuff youve gave them that made such a good season, or put it this way if we all used all this expensive stuff would we all have had a good season, i would kinda think again, but congrats on a good season anyway  jimmy

I use cider vinegar it should be noted though that the kind from the health food store is a lot better as it contains live cultures and more useful nutrients although I do use MANY other vitamin and mineral supplements I think every vitamin tonic contains too much of some nutrients and not enough of others thats why I change them around so that they are recieving varying quantities of diffrent nutrients and not overloading on any one thing some nutrients are toxic if consumed in too high a dosage and are much more harmful if overconsumed than being deficent in them

  HI, I'M NEW TO THE FORUM. CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF CIDER VINEGAR (OR ORDINARY MALT VINEGAR FOR THAT MATTER) IS EFFECTIVE IN TREATING CROP YEAST INFECTIONS? I ONCE BOUGHT SOMETHING FOR ABOVE CONDITION, IT LOOKED AND SMELT LIKE VINEGAR (THOUGH I STOPPED SHORT OF TASTING IT) THE THING IS, IF IT WAS VINEGAR, I WAS DONE , AS IT WORKS OUT APPROX. EIGHTY TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE!

Malt Vinegar is the best thing since sliced bread for Sour Crop, fill a syringe with 1/5th malt voinegar and 4/5ths warm water, bird will recover in 2/3 hours

hyacith is right i had sour crop in one of my birds before young bird racing started used cider vinegar streght down throat it works price £1.49 from h&b store good stuff

Cheers, I had a  swab result  stating a high yeast-candida count. This was a random test on 3 birds. For ease of treatment of the entire team could I put the vinegar in their drinker, and at what water to vinegar ratio?

Quoted from grooter

hyacith is right i had sour crop in one of my birds before young bird racing started used cider vinegar streght down throat it works price £1.49 from h&b store good stuff

£1.49 ya joking,get down to asda.79p.
I use cider vinger 2/3 times a week,apparently it keep respitory at bay and has other benifits.It smells nice anyway..

25p will get you a garlic bulb one clove of which will kick everything into touch, including your vinegar.

agree with posts above ,, cider vinegar is good for sour crop and acts quickly,   but the old garlic takes a bit of beating for many reasons, if given regularly, the good properties of garlic, are allmost end less and far to much for my one finger to print, but seriously , it is so cheap, for what it does its unbeleivable

I,m adding 10ml of cider vinegar to 1.5litres of drinking water for 5 days, hoping that will do the trick.
              I use garlic once a week, 52 weeks of the year. I agree it's a very useful thing with many benefits.

Thanks for come back on this, Grovehomer.  

I am very surprised to learn that you have a problem with yeast AND that you use garlic; garlic should stop anything 'going over the top'. Can you please confirm HOW you give your garlic to your birds, and how much?

BEST REGARDS

I use 4 crushed cloves of garlic  added to 1 litre of boiled water thats allowed to cool for 10 mins before adding the garlic to it. This is left overnight and shared between 3  1.5 litre drinkers which are then topped up with fresh tap water, so that's 4 cloves to 1 gallon of water  i'd say.
                          I was somewhat surprised to hear that there was a yeast problem, the birds look ok, are flying well, there's no food retention or vomitting,  I'm just acting on a random swab result.
                             Do you think I'm right to try the vinegar or will a prolonged garlic treatment do the trick? Any advice will be appreciated thanks Bruno.

Do you peel the garlic? chop it up or what ?

I peel it then crush it, some people slice it, some dont do anything apart from peeling it.  Some  put it straight into freshly boiled water, others into warm water and some add it to the cold drinker water. I'm not much help am I?
                                                                  The beauty of this forum is that you will get enough views to confidently choose one that works for you.
                                                     good luck and watch this space.

i once read somewhere that u should never put ur garlic into hot or boiling water, it should be put into cold watwr, it takes something out of it, i always put cut up bulbs in cold water, and as i have said before use it in the bath water it keeps ur birds kleen and is good for their whattles and cleaning their nostrols, it certainly is good for keeping them, clean it is used by gardeners to spray on crops to get rid of greenfly etc,

Totally agree Fifer i never use boiling water

I think I will try the cold water and garlic over the winter, see if I notice a difference in the birds.

Again thanks for coming back Grovehomer, and thanks to all the others who spotted the problem.  

If you add garlic to hot or boiling water you kill the active agent, alicin.

That explains how the yeast found a way into your birds.  

If you decide to continue using garlic, use only cold water. I'm sure you'll spot a difference in your birds after just one day.  

Bruno, right again, only cold water should be used with garlic as hot water changes its consistency and destroys much of the beneficial chemicals. The other thing is to never leave it for more than a couple or three days even in cold water, as a skin develops round the garlic which stops it imparting any goodness into the water. The best idea is probably to replace it every two days.

I think Fifer's idea on using 'leftovers' for the bath water is an excellent idea and a natural follow-on practice for what you advocate, Doostalker - renew every two days.  

I'd known for a while that garlic had insecticidal properties but until Fifer's post (a while back now    ) had no idea on how to use it this way for the pigeons. Dunking what's left from my garlic preparation into the bathwater seems to be working a lot better than any of the advertised bath salts that I'd tried out.  

i now use the surplus garlic drinking water for their baths, thanks to fifer, & had no lice problems whats so ever, ( just glad no one eats pigeons anymore, as i bet they would taste quite nice self marinated in garlic) lol.