Category: Farm Life

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Preventing Algae Growth in Water Buckets


I accidentally found a way to prevent algae growth in my water buckets.  Usually with warm summer weather I’m forced to dump and scrub 5-15 gallon buckets every day or every other day because black or green algae starts to grow in the bucket.  Yuck!  If I’m not willing to drink out of a bucket I don’t expect my livestock to.

One of my horse show winnings I had acquired 2 tubs of Quench! (Equine electrolyte) .  Quench is added to the water to rehydrate horses providing needed electrolytes.  Well it turns out that it does more than that!  After adding it to the water for both my horses and alpacas I noticed I no longer had algae growth in my water buckets.  Now I’m down to dumping and scrubbing buckets on the weekend more to make me feel better than me really “needing” to. 

The manufacturer recommends 1 scoop per gallon of water but I found 1 scoop per 5 gallons still keeps the algae away.  This dose also seems to last the whole week.  The undesolved particles rest at the bottom of the bucket and every time I refill the bucket with water they mix back in. 

I’m very satisfied with Quench!  Not only does it give my animals needed electrolytes in hot summer months it also keeps my chore times down with all the buckets I was forced to clean daily.

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Bat in the Bathroom

We had a little bat stuck in the bathroom this morning. I scooped him up in a plastic container and took him outside. It wasn’t until after I let him go that I remembered to get the camera. It turns out that bats are contortion artists. This little guy managed to squeeze into a check in the log! To give you an idea of the size of the check the mark on the log above it is from a chainsaw.

Hopefully the little guy is ok and the cat didn’t hurt him in anyway. We like bats around here, help keep the mosquitoes and other biting bugs in check.