Bird veterinarians see a host of disease syndromes related to contaminated water – we call it “ the Grunge Syndrome”. Grungy, dirty water is known to cause infertility, chick death and ill-thrift in adults. It is important for the long-term viability of your aviary to have a system of regular water quality maintenance.

The unique formulation of Sweetwater combines the advantages of Aviclens (the industry standard in water treatments) with the benefits of organic fruit acids. A boost in birdroom and aviary vitality occurs when a water supply is safe and the effects of the organic acids are included.

Water hygiene will always be an issue for your bird’s health. Because we confine our birds to cages their water is easily contaminated. Unfortunately, in Australia’s climate, even a minor water contamination becomes a “biological soup” very quickly.

The advent of automatic watering systems has been a great help but it is not the total answer to poor water quality. Black polythene pipe is the most popular method of distributing water to aviaries – be careful! Black poly, in the sun, heats up really quickly and if the water is stagnant in the pipe there can be a rapid increase in germs in the water. Depending on the flows through the pipe, this contamination may be delivered direct to your water bowls!

Hint: Keep the polypipe out of direct sunlight and make sure there are no sections where the water can lie stagnant in the line. Always incorporate a drain plug to allow you to fully drain the system.

The down side of automatic systems is the difficulty using water as a medication route. If you are putting in a watering system think about incorporating a “header tank” to allow in water treatments. A tank of known volume makes sense when you are delivering medication on a “per litre” basis. A simple bypass system allows you to switch from mains to tank water as needed.

For bird rooms and smaller aviaries, water bottles and open water bowls are the norm. Drinker bottles are ideal as they limit contamination and still allow individual cage medication. To reduce the need for regular bottle washing, add Sweetwater to the drinking water. Open water bowls are cheap but they require a lot of ongoing attention. The addition of Sweetwater not only reduces the amount of effort needed to maintain clean bowls, it also gives your whole aviary a lift.

Bowl washing is a necessary chore, even with an automatic system, by incorporating Sweetwater into your health programme, you can greatly reduce the washing effort required and get direct benefits to birdroom and aviary.