Beat the Heat: DIY Electrolytes for Healthier Summer Chickens

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Are we ready, pawpaw?
Hello friends and welcome toChicken.
Every Day, a podcast for you,the backyard chicken enthusiast,
and mine.
Your host is my Pawpaw, gary,Gary Valerie of Senla Backyard
Chickens.
Here we have fun while sharingideas and learning how to care
for our foul-feathered friends.
Check out our videos at Senlathat's C-E-N-L-A Backyard

(00:24):
Chickens on YouTube, tiktok andFacebook.
So, without further ado, let'sstart today's show.
How was that?
Oh, yes, it's recording.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey guys, gary, with CENLA, backyard Chickens and the
Chickens Everyday Podcast, andif you live in the Northern
Hemisphere it's hot, and if youlive in the United States it's
hot and dry or it's hot and wet.
The theme of that is hot, andheat stresses out your chickens,
and stress is one of the thingsthat causes egg laying problems
.
It reduces their health.

(00:57):
We have issues with that.
So I have got a recipe forelectrolytes for you today that
you are absolutely going to love.
But before we get into that,let's remember the three
important things about wheneversummertime hits for your chicken
, and that's shade, fresh waterand air circulation.
Okay, you always want shade.

(01:17):
If you look out here at ourplace, we've got shade trees.
We've got shade trees around.
We're able to free range.
If you don't have that optionand if you don't have that
option, then build some sort ofshade for your chickens.
It's very, very important.
Next is air circulation.

(01:38):
Inside my coop over here I havetwo large intake fans.
I run one at the time.
At night time it gets very hotinside this thing and that does
two things it keeps us cooler inthere whenever I have all that
fresh air and it keeps ammoniadown at the same time.
Number three is that freshwater that we always want to
keep for your birds.
If you're able to change yourwater out every day, there's

(01:59):
little tips and tricks that youcan do.
You can freeze a gallon, put it, put it in a bigger container
for your chicken to have coldwater.
I will give my chickenswatermelon and cantaloupe that
is very, very cold.
I will take slice up grapes,slice up blueberries, put them
in ice trays and freeze them.
Anything to get them enticedinto drinking.
Some good cold water is alwaysgood for your chickens.

(02:21):
So one of the things while we'rehere, and while we're here and
I'm gathering eggs, I'm going totalk about that recipe.
This is stuff that you probablyhave in your pantry already and
, if not, it's things thatyou're probably going to want in

(02:41):
your pantry, and it's four easyingredients.
We use apple cider vinegar withthe mother, and this is per
gallon, two tablespoons.
We use standard molasses twotablespoons per gallon.
We use non-iodized salt, plainsalt one teaspoon per gallon.
And we use crushed gratedginger root and at one teaspoon

(03:06):
per gallon as well.
Now what this does what thisdoes it replenishes the minerals
that your chickens losewhenever they're under stress or
whenever they're too hot.
So we start off with twotablespoons of apple cider
vinegar from the mother and Isay from the mother, you want to
make tablespoons of apple cidervinegar from the mother?
And I say from the mother, youwant to make sure that it says

(03:28):
that on the bottle.
The mother is just the term theyuse for the beneficial bacteria
that they leave in the applecider vinegar.
If you look in the bottom ofthe bottle you'll see a little
layer, quarter inch or so thick,of some brown stuff.
That's the bacteria that wewant to have in there.
And if you're curious how theymake that, it's really a simple
type of recipe.

(03:48):
You can even make it at home ifyou have the stuff that you
need.
But you crush apples to extractall the juice, you add yeast to
it and the yeast eats thesugars in the apple juice,
converts the sugars to alcohol.
Now we have hard apple cider.
Then they put bacteria, certainbacteria.

(04:09):
It starts an L big long wordlike that and they put inside
there and that eats the alcohol,converts the alcohol into
lactic or acetic acid and thenyou have vinegar.
That's what acetic acid is.
And apple cider vinegar with themother is good for pH balance.
It's good to not to help keepout the unwanted parasites, like
some worms.
It's good to help keep the goodbacteria up inside the chickens

(04:33):
.
And again, you want to becautious.
Do not overdo this recipe.
This is not one of theserecipes that, oh, a little bit
of this stuff works.
A little bit more will workeven better.
That's not how this stuff works.
You can overdose your chickens.
So, two tablespoons per gallonapple cider vinegar, two
tablespoons of plain molasses.
Molasses has tons of benefits.

(04:54):
It's got calcium, it's got ironin it.
Both of these are essential forproper blood and cell moving
inside the chickens.
Essential for egg laying.
The molasses has a little sweettaste to it because it's got
some sugar in it Promotes thechickens and makes them want to
drink more.
Drinking more is a good thingbecause it helps them to stay

(05:16):
hydrated.
Hydrated is what you want.
Next we get to the salt.
One teaspoon of plain,non-iodized salt.
You can get that at any grocerystore.
The reason you want to getnon-iodized is because if you
feed your chickens a poultryration from a box store, like I
do Purina or any other big namebrands they put the iodine in

(05:37):
the feed and you don't want tooverdo how much iodine that you
give your chickens.
So plain, non-iodized salt,salt, sodium chloride.
It's good for nerve function,for muscle function.
It's an essential part of whatchickens need in the minerals of
their body.
Last but not least is thatgrated ginger root.
One teaspoon of grated gingerroot and we give that to our

(06:00):
chickens for the same way wetake it as humans.
It is just a wonderfulsuperfood.
It is a natural antibiotic.
It has antioxidant propertiesto it.
It has stuff inside it thathelps the cells maintain and
hold on to the moisture.
It is really really good stuffand that's it.
Two tablespoons of apple cidervinegar with the mother, two

(06:21):
tablespoons of molasses, oneteaspoon of salt, one teaspoon
of grated ginger and that's allit is to it.
And by the time you put this inyour pantry, look at how many
gallons of electrolytes you canmake with this versus what
you're going to buy by thelittle dry packets that you get
at the box stores.
It is obviously a win-win.

(06:41):
You're going to love it, yourchickens are going to love it.
I appreciate you listening inand if you guys have any
questions or comments or youwant to be on the show, just
send me an email.
Chickenseveryday at yahoocom.
That's chickenseveryday atyahoocom.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks for listening in.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Bye-bye.
That's all we have time fortoday.
I really hope you enjoyedlistening to the podcast.
Be sure to watch our videos.
So, on behalf of my pup, gary,and me, sylvie, thanks for
listening.