Has anyone had problems with certain types of glass used for waterers? All mine are used on the typical red plastic bases.
I recently had one brooder out of six where the fully feathered chicks started to die, huddle under the light, and were very light and thin. The symptoms resembled that of coccidiosis, but the droppings were normal. They get the same care, feed, litter, and everything else as the chicks in the other five brooders, and those others were all fine. I finally realized the problems started when I exchanged jars on the water fountain (the first one needed cleaning), using a clean Miracle Whip jar that was just the right size to screw onto those red bases. As near as I can tell, that glass must have been leaching lead or some other chemical into the water, poisoning the chicks. It\'s a lighter, thinner glass than the regular mason jars normally used here. It\'s the only explanation I\'ve been able to come up with so far.