Chlorine in tap water

[pj1001]

Had an interesting conversation at the Dublin show last weekend witha  couple of friends and some of the judges at the show from the Up North Combine concerning chlorine in the tap water.

 

One of my friends works for the Water Board and his job is testing drinking water and he told us that any medication that we put in the drinkers for the birds is being killed by the levels of chlorine in the water. A couple of the judges agreed with this and said they have filtering systems in place to remove the chlorine from the water before giving it to thei birds.

 

I am still open minded on this, although I know of a few fanciers who are good fliers who use well water, rather than tap water.

 

Has anyone any views on this?

 

PJ

 

[Guest slugmonkey]

Let your water sit ( preferably in the sun ) this will drastically reduce the chlorine content

I have well water but I have a lot of iron in the water as well as calcium

[Chairman]

Some of the old flyers of yesterday, sadly no longer with us told me that instead of using tap water, they boiled the water and then left to cool in a tin bucket, once cold it was added to the drinkers the next day. I ask, if you were to boil the water would this remove the chlorine and then allow any medications mixed into it work to capacity. It isnt cheap to buy some of the preparations today, so with raising your thread it could therefore save us money in the long term.

[hepste]

I read recently, (maybe in the BHW) of a fancier who reduces the chlorine content in water by letting it stand for a couple of days.  He has never had y/b sickness.  A friend of his who previously had sickness problems tried this method with immediate success.  This makes good sense, because the chlorine, which is a cleaning agent, will kill the good bacteria, therefore opening a route of infection for bad bacteria.

[wilkins]

stand for 24 hours or boil, then add a little milton fluid to it

boiling is best if you have time

[T_T]

Anyone tempted to use water from a properly installed ( lid on and tapped ) rain barrel ?

[pjc]

best to just leave water stood for 24hrs, i fill my cans each time i use them so they are stood ready for next use!

[Tony C]

best to just leave water stood for 24hrs, i fill my cans each time i use them so they are stood ready for next use!

 

I have been doing the same for some years now

[PigeonTracker]

I've used the boil and stand system since the  60's when my mentor (Grandfather) told me never to trust what the council put in what we called (council pop)  Here's the simple method I use.  Urn or large pan of water with a linen cloth over the top to act as a filter, a stove,  boil the water, leave for two days, boil again with cloth and then after its cooled it will be as pure as your likely to get.

[Roland]

I have the ole Brewers tap buckets. About 2 foot high. I have t 2 or 3 pieces of slate woods about 3/4 inch thick and leave the lid on these over night.

[Roland]

Should say 'Did' as they are gone and am looking to buy another.

[Guest]

Anyone tempted to use water from a properly installed ( lid on and tapped ) rain barrel ?

 

I did a few years ago consider it, I had troughen on the back of my loft collecting the run off and  connected to a water butt with a lid. I was put off after seeing the condition of te water in the butt, it became slimey very quickly, I assumed this was bad for the bids and abandoned.

As to filtration I would never buy a water filter to be used on the tap, simply beacuse I read  few years back that the filtered water is actually more dangerous than the council pop! The filtering methods posted above though do sound good but time consuming especially with no water supply at the loft.

 

[Guest]

ive said this for years why do birds go and drink out of puddles when ther is clean water in the drinker and i all ways medicate on the corn they know whats best for them

[pjc]

Water but water if stood and not stirred up should be as good as you'll get but it must have stood for a period of time for any nasty's to avaporate. I wouldn't use it if you live near any heavy industry as the rain will have picked up any pollution from the air, hence acid rain!

 

Phil

[joe61]

Can i just mntion that most of you guys use one method or another to filter or purify your water, to reduce either clorine or waterever else you feel is in it...  for the sole purpose i think for your pigeons. Which is commendable in truth.  but may i ask what each of you drink or where you get your water from if thirsty, ?  what water supply have you been giving your children ..... do you get their drinking water from a barrel or let their water stand for 24 hours or even boil every drop of their drinking water...... what i am saying is if water from the tap is good enough to give your children or  drink yourselves... then yopur pigeons should be ok on it too........  Yes ?  

 

 

oh days of days gone by happy

[the pigeon_milker]

good point about what we drink but if you give the same dose of medication as you had that probably kill them

i boil it and airer-ate it using a fish tank pump

if you use a rainwater butt it could cause problems not just pollution but bad bacteria and blue/green algae that may live on the roof and then wash down into the butt

there is some stuff for fishtanks to take chlorine out of the water called safe/gaurd but i never tried it and not know if it could be bad for them or not so i carn't risk that

[VAGIN]

You can use all the filters and purify all the water you want  But when the birds are put onto a pigeon transporter . Do they have the bio filters ect on board or is it straight out off the nearest tap object defeated ???

[the pigeon_milker]

You can use all the filters and purify all the water you want  But when the birds are put onto a pigeon transporter . Do they have the bio filters ect on board or is it straight out off the nearest tap object defeated ???

if they have a small amount of poison here and there when they race it is still better than every day all year round

 

[VAGIN]

Im dont  disagree with you M8

[the pigeon_milker]

you made a good point about the trasporters we dont know what the quaity of the water is

[Larry Lucas]

I spoke with a gentleman at PrimaLac about the issue of chlorine gas used in public drinking water. He said the company compensates for chlorine and it should not affect the needed potency of the PrimaLac. I can't speak for other medicine manufacturers. Letting the house water stand for 24 hours vents off the chlorine.  On the other hand, some fanciers put a teaspoon of chlorine bleach in the water to help prevent the spread of bacteria -- also a good practice for shipping and convoyers to help keep the birds healthy. This practices does reduce the effectiveness of medications.

[Roland]

Bleach agai should NEVER be used with any medication that you may use.

Bleach - or Milton - is good for feathering. Soon have white insides lol.

But again Chroline, Bleach can't so doesn't differiate from Good Gut guys and Bad gut guys.

And in reality some of what we may view as bad, may well be of impotance in another aspect, and again quite useful.

FlightPath is a fair bet for being useful. Yogurt, live or dead is no good I believe, like a good Vet I know posted me.

 

[Larry Lucas]

THE "MIRACLE" OF CHLORINE

 

The addition of common household bleach to the drinking water does, indeed, have beneficial effects on pigeon health. This seems a little weird since the drinking of cholrinated water has negative implications in human health, especially with suggestions that it may be incriminated in the increased rate of cancer. Chlorine is a strong chemical which binds to most organic molecules and can change their chemical identity, making some non-toxic compounds become toxic. Personally, I use a filter on my drinking water which removes chlorine; but my pigeons drink a lot of it with what I percieve as beneficial effects. NEVER PUT ANYTHING ELSE IN THE DRINKING WATER AT THE SAME TIME AS CHLORINE.

 

The ususal method of treating the drinking water is to add 1 to 2 teaspoonsful of common household bleach, such as Clorox or Purex, to each gallon of water. The amount varies depending on the temperature. When it is hot the chlorine leaves the water faster, so use more; when it is cold, it leaves the water slowly so use less.

 

Chlorine is a very strong disinfectant and keeps the water-transmission of disease organisms to a minimum. Most diseases of pigeons can be spread via the drinking water, so the judicious use of a disinfectant can prevent some of the things that our pigeons may be exposed to. There may be a hidden benefit as well: the increased consumption of chlorine, which in turn is eliminated by the kidneys, produces a more acid urine. The urine is excreted along with the feces (it is the white cap on the feces). This net result is a more acidic dropping. Salmonella, and other bacteria, dislikes an acidic environment. This may decrease the environmental proliferation of the bacteria, making it less likely for pigeons to contract an infective dose. This is theory, and not proven scientific fact, so take it for what it is worth. I have given it a lot of thought and concluded that this is why lofts that deal with paratyphoid do better after treatment, if the birds are kept on this chlorinated water.

 

I handled convention race birds this last spring/summer. The only thing that I did for the birds was to keep them on chlorinated water. Mine was the only loft that experienced no sick pigeons. Is that coincidence? I think it probably isn't.

 

I also theorize that drinking this chlorinated water has a negative influence on the trichomonads in the oral cavity. I need to do some simple research to confirm this but, in my mind, it should have some effect on the numbers of these organisms. It at least will minimize the water transmission of trichomonas; and this is the main route of spread.

 

Remember: NEVER PUT ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WATER AT THE SAME TIME AS CHLORINE. IT WILL PROBABLY NEUTRALIZE THESE COMPOUNDS OR RENDER THEM TOXIC TO THE BIRDS. When wanting to give vitamins or a treatment for coccicia, worms, or trichomonas, etc., simply leave out the chlorine for those days and then resume when the dosing is completed. Household bleach should not be considered a treatment, but only a preventive measure.

 

 

David E. Marx D.V.M.

Golden Valley Pet and Pigeon Clinic

2707 NW 60th Ave.

Norman, OK 73072

1-900-737-MARX

[THE FIFER]

let the water stand for 24hrs, thats why when you fill a fish tank it must stand before you can put fish in it,

[Guest IB]

My understanding too, chlorinated water does affect medications via the drinker. As Fifer says, draw your water from the tap the night before, put it in the fridge and the chlorine is gone in the morning.

 

Don't see much point in adding chlorine to tap water? When there's chlorine already in it, can you really making it any 'cleaner' / more sterile?