Water question

[nsanywhere]

Quick question about water....

I keep 2 small buckets of fresh water dumped and changed daily.

I also have a big plastic tub - sometimes the ducks swim in it, but it mostly just sits......breeding mosquitos.....but the sheep prefer drinking out of this to the buckets so it stays.

Can I toss in one of those mosquito dunk things, or will it poison the water for sheep? Or will they try to eat it?

 

[patandchickens]

I do not know about sheep in particular but you should not use Bt (mosquito dunks or granules) in livestock water in general, as it can cause intestinal irritation.

Either dump and refill the tub regularly, before any mosquito larvae are able to pupate and transform to adulthood; or some people put a goldfish or two in there to help keep 'em eaten, although this does not work well in small containers in hot climates and obviously is more of a maintenance headache in terms of having to make sure you rescue the goldfish before dumping/scrubbing the tub and taking it indoors for wintertime.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[aggieterpkatie]

The only thing about using small buckets is to make sure they're in the shade. Small amounts of water sitting in the sun will get hot and sheep (or any animal) won't want to drink it.

 

[nsanywhere]

got the goldfish and they are doing a great job!

er.....well, they were until my duck found the tasty treats. I'm going to stick with the non-orange 25 cent ones and see if they stick around a smidge longer.

 

[goodhors]

Put some pieces of white PVC pipe in the water tub for fish to hide in from the duck. White also might help reflect some of the heat, so water is not quite as hot. I keep white rocks in the bottom of my small fish pond, so it doesn't absorb heat from the sun.

Racoons also like goldfish, they could be catching them unless tank is over 3ft deep. Learned that when doing my fish pond.

I would go cheap and agile for the fish. Do keep the tub cleaned often, so fish poop doesn't accumulate and mix in the drinking water.