You may have heard about putting apple cider vinegar in your flock’s water to improve their health. However, before you go about adding this natural supplement into your flock’s diet, you must first learn how it affects their health. Vinegar can be both a help and a hindrance to the homestead chicken keeper. By learning how vinegar affects chickens you can know how to best use vinegar to support good health in the homestead flock. When, how, and which vinegar you provide to your flock can play a role in their overall health. 

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I first started putting apple cider vinegar in my flock’s water before I knew the full effects it can have on a chicken. Vinegar plays a part in regulating the body’s pH, digesting protein, and utilizing calcium. All of which are important processes for keeping a chicken healthy.

So, before you make the same mistakes that I did, let’s discuss the best practices for supplementing vinegar into your flock’s natural diet!

Vinegar and pH

What is pH? 

The pH of a chicken’s body is the measure of how acidic or alkaline the body is. It is measured on a scale of 0-14, with 0 to 6.9 being acidic, 7.1 to 14 being alkaline, and 7 being neutral. Different parts of the body have different pH levels. As a whole, the body tries to maintain an alkaline condition. The crop, stomach, and blood tend to stay more acidic. Vinegar is also acidic.

Vinegar and crop pH

The crop stays acidic for the purpose of keeping out harmful microbes (cause disease) who prefer alkaline conditions. When crop acidity gets disrupted it also disrupts the population of beneficial microbes, which then allows harmful microbes to take up residence. Crop pH can become disrupted when a chicken stops or reduces its food and water intake. 

Since vinegar is acidic it can help the crop restore its acidity. Adding 1 T. of vinegar per gallon of water during periods of decreased eating or drinking can help the crop maintain its pH level. By keeping the pH level stable in the crop there is less chance that bad microbes will live and cause disease. It also prompts good microbes to flourish. However, if the crop becomes too acidic, it can become inhabitable for beneficial microbes. So make sure you are adding vinegar to your flock’s water only when necessary and for no longer than needed. 

Vinegar and stomach pH

A chicken’s stomach is very acidic which aids in both digestion and in keeping away harmful microbes. While you may think that vinegar will increase the acidity of the stomach, it actually doesn’t. Vinegar is mostly an acetic acid, which does not have an affect on the pH levels of the stomach. Also, as digestive material moves through the digestive system, the body works to turn it into an alkaline state. 

Vinegar and blood pH

A chicken’s blood is acidic. However, vinegar does not affect the pH levels of the blood. Blood has its own pH buffer called bicarbonate. It uses bicarbonate to maintain a stable pH by having the kidneys filter out bicarbonate when they realize that the blood is alkaline, restoring the acidic quality of the blood. 

Vinegar and Protein

Another acidic part of a chicken’s body is the stomach, where hydrochloric acid aids with digestion. The hydrochloride acid plays the especially important role of stimulating enzymes to digest protein. Protein tends to naturally be more acidic in nature due to the amino acids present. Protein derived from meat sources tend to be more acidic than plant-based protein sources.

While vinegar does not influence the acidity of the stomach it can aid with the digestion of protein. When the stomach is empty, it does not produce hydrochloric acid. Vinegar in the water can encourage a chicken to drink which activates the stomach’s production of acid.

Vinegar can also help digest protein once it has been converted into an alkaline state. Once alkaline, the vinegar can be used as a buffer for the more acidic protein. 

However, other alkaline foods can also be used as buffer for acidic protein, so vinegar is not essential for the digestion of protein. The main points here are:

• Vinegar can be provided to chickens when they are eating a diet high in protein but low in alkaline rich foods. 
• Always provide plenty of calcium supplement, otherwise the vinegar will be of no use for aiding in the digestion of protein. 
• Instead of providing vinegar, you could just supplement with alkaline foods like leafy greens and seeds. 
• In general, you don’t have to worry too much about alkaline to protein ration in your flock’s diet. It may only get out of whack during high stress periods or during times of food or water withdrawal. 

Vinegar and Calcium 

A chicken’s body tries to maintain an alkaline pH level. Once the acidic vinegar leaves the crop and enters the stomach, the body works to convert the acidic substance to a more alkaline substance. It does this by using buffers. A buffer is basically anything alkaline that will counter the acidity of an acid.

Buffers can include bicarbonate, bile from the pancreas, and alkaline foods, like calcium. When highly acidic substances are present, the body draws on the most available buffer, usually calcium. So, when feeding a chicken vinegar, or any acidic food, you must ensure there is calcium or other alkaline foods available as well. 

Vinegar becomes dangerous when it affects the make up of blood in a chicken’s body. Since vinegar is acidic, calcium is often used to buffer it. This calcium can come from a) a calcium containing food source if it is present at the same time as the vinegar, b) derived from bones, which is dangerous, or c) extracted from the blood. Extracting calcium from the blood is the body’s last resort. The main points here are:

• When giving vinegar to hens, provide plenty of calcium, they need it both to buffer the acid and to still have enough to make eggshells. 
• Don’t give vinegar during the summer when hens need to use calcium to make eggshells and keep the calcium levels up in their blood. 

Which Vinegar? 

A substance must be at least 4% acetic acid in order for it to be called vinegar. There are two common vinegars, white vinegar and apple cider vinegar. When giving vinegar to your flock, it doesn’t really matter which kind you put in their water. However, I prefer and recommend apple cider vinegar for these reasons:

• People drink it too!
• It’s more naturally made and derived from a natural ingredient, apples. 
• You can make it yourself. 

I do not put apple cider vinegar in my flock’s water all the time. There are certain times when I feel that the vinegar would be beneficial for their health. I usually put 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of water. Make sure you use plastic waterers too since the acidic vinegar will react with metal or galvanized containers.

Here is when I give my homestead flock apple cider vinegar:

• in the winter when they are mostly eating layer feed, that way it helps digest the protein
• in the fall when I increase their protein for the fall molt
• when a chicken is sick and is not eating or drinking, but I usually offer electrolytes before putting vinegar in the water for 1 day

Now that you know how vinegar can effect a chicken, you should have a better understanding on when and how to give it to your flock. Vinegar can have unforeseen affects on pH levels, digestion, and calcium utilization. It is not a good idea to add vinegar to your flock’s water on a daily basis. The best times to supplement with vinegar include times when your flock’s diet is high in protein or when you encouraging an ailing chicken to eat and drink. I hope you now have a better understanding of how a chicken’s body handles vinegar and can use it to keep your homestead flock healthy and safe!

To learn more about using natural supplements for your flock, check out my post on Homemade Feed Supplements! And don’t miss any other homestead poultry tips! Make sure you are part of our modern pioneer newsletter community!  

By Alexa