Biosecurity? REALLY?

[dogdollar]

I hear a lot of talk about biosecurity, and I can't help but agree that keeping your flock isolated from other flocks sounds like a great way of preventing the transmission of chicken diseases and pest from outside of the flock. My question has more to do with WILD animals....I have a spot near the coop where I throw scratch every day when I let the chickens out to range in the afternoon, and that's also where I keep oyster shell and grit. Well, the local wild birds have caught on to this and I have cardinals, blue jays, rock doves, and pigeons stopping by for a few seeds, plus I am sure there are mice that come at night, plus I even have a couple of wild rabbits that come around for a snack (they ignore me now), and this is not to even mention the squirrels. I sometimes feel like St. Francis of Assisi out there.
My question.....is there any threat from the wild animals as far as disease is concerned? Because if there is, I darned sure don't know what I can do about it.
Thanks,
DD

 

[PurpleChicken]

Yes, there are always disease threats from wild animals and it's difficult to avoid those. However since you can avoid infecting your birds from exposure to other flocks it's worth doing. Many of us have lost entire flocks to infections from other flocks. As far as I know I've never lost a bird to something they got in the wild. It's a numbers game.

 

[DTchickens]

Yep, a lot of the birds can carry the same disease that your chickens can. But never have worried about it myself, owned chickens for years (all my life pretty much) and have never had a chicken get sick from the wild birds.

-Daniel

 

[dawg53]

This is how one or two of my hens picked up tapeworms earlier this year...from wild birds while free ranging in the yard. Thank goodness for valbazen. It's not only animals, but insects as well, especially mosquitos...fowl pox, encephalytis and west nile virus just to name a few. We just have to be vigilant and have situational awareness as best as we can.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Now I'm intrigued.....how could you know this? I'm curious how you found out the source. I've seen millions of wild bird droppings in my life and have never seen tape worm segments of any kind. Did a vet site this source or was this an educated guess?

I've been free ranging for years and have never seen worms of any kind in my chicken's stool...I'm wondering why some flocks get them, some do not, if its convenient to site wild animals as the source or if this has truly been isolated as the primary source. If so, by whom? And scientists paid for by agribiz funds don't count in my book.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Now I'm intrigued.....how could you know this? I'm curious how you found out the source. I've seen millions of wild bird droppings in my life and have never seen tape worm segments of any kind. Did a vet site this source or was this an educated guess?

I've been free ranging for years and have never seen worms of any kind in my chicken's stool...I'm wondering why some flocks get them, some do not, if its convenient to site wild animals as the source or if this has truly been isolated as the primary source. If so, by whom? And scientists paid for by agribiz funds don't count in my book.

According to the vet tech I gave the poop samples to be tested, she said there has to be an intermediate host that gets infected eating the eggs of tapeworms and are passed in it's feces. That's how she explained it to me.... that being infected birds deposting eggs in their poop and my chickens pecking and apparantly getting them like that. Edited to remove flaming

 

[Judy]

To return to the original subject --

I've read on here of chickens picking up mites and lice from wild birds flying over. I haven't read of their getting any other diseases this way. Which is certainly not to say it can't happen.

You make a good point, we can't prevent some contact with wild birds, and they could certainly be a source.

I don't worry much about biosecurity -- but I do keep a separate pair of shoes for the chickens and for the feed store. I figure other flocks could be carriers of a disease that could be brought in by the owner. In a way I get a bit nervous reading on here about people medicating their birds with antibiotics and keeping them when they suspect, if not know, there is a disease in the flock. There seem to be threads on here every day that are titled things like, my chicken has a runny nose, my chicken is wheezing, etc.....

I don't know whether I am being reasonable or silly. All I know is, the shoe thing maintains my comfort level on the subject.

 

[Tala]

I had a cockerel go down from Fowl Cholera last February ---- it had been months since his brooder group was introduced and that was the last contact we'd (knowingly) had with other chicken flocks. I had to assume it came from a wild bird since they have it too.
He was the only one of my birds to get it, a weakling I guess

I would also assume that lice or mites come from wild birds, because if you don't introduce any new birds and practice decent biosecurity, where ELSE would hoast specific bugs come from except other birds???? They sure don't get poultry lice from my dogs or cats....

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
'Bout made me choke on my drink when I read that.

My chickens got poultry ticks from wild birds. You don't ever want to find those in your coop.

 

[churchx3]

I see wild birds in my backyard and the chicken run daily picking up scraps that the chickens leave. I have read about biosecurity on BYC several times but I always stop and think what did they do about biosecurity in the old days? IMO today we tend to overthink too much!