I was given some old galvanized steel chicken waterers and feeders. Most of it is in good shape, just the part where the water would os sat is a little. I will get a steel brush and really clean it up ....but are still worth using. I'm not sure how bad it would be for the chickens to use these. Thanks in advance to your input.

-- claudia in NY (cooleyville@aol.com), April 09, 2002

Answers

feeders wont be a problem,, the waterers,, after you clean them,, check to see if the water will get rusty,, chickens may not drink if the water is rusty,, though it wont hurt them

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 09, 2002.

I have an automatic waterer that developed rust. The float valve part is still good, so I went to the Home improvement store and bought a spray can of a product called Dip-It. The orig. Dip-it was a quart sized can of rubbery coating and you dipped the handles of tools in it to make a no slip grip. The spray stuff can be used for patio furniture etc. I washed and dried the pan, sanded the rusty spots lightly and gave the pan three coats of the stuff, letting it dry well in between. That was two years ago. Yesterday I noticed a little raised spot on the coating, indicating that the rust may be reoccuring under the coating. The chickens have never hesitated to drink from it and have suffered no illness from it. Oh, I did wash it well with soapy water after the final coat was very dry, before refilling it for the first time. Good luck, Shari

-- Shari (Bellsoundfarm@cs.com), April 10, 2002.

Rust is iron oxide, hardly toxic. It won't be bad for the chickens at all assuming that they are not rusted through and leaking all over. i wuld not worry ab out getting them all shiny...but i would clean them well with soab and a dilute chlorox rinse.

Oscar

-- Oscar Will (owill@mail.whittier.edu), April 12, 2002.