Biosecurity shoe bath?

[gabby3535]

Do you think an inch or so of bleach and water in a plastic, under-bed storage box would be a good, 'step-in' shoe bath....to disinfect the bottom of visitors' shoes.....?
If not, what would you use instead?

 

[Mahonri]

It might work. I just try to keep visitors out of my coop and chicken common areas. I only wear the same shoes or flip flops when I'm in their area. They never leave their area.

 

[ChickieNikki]

I'm really new to all this, but my kids and neighbors and their kids (and their dogs, too) have all walked through my yard where I will fence the run (1/3 acre of grass). If I don't have to worry about the "germs" that are already there, do I have to worry later? I understand not having people walk through the run after visiting a zoo or other farm, and my kids and I will have designated "chicken shoes", but what's the concern exactly? I had intended to make my little farm visitor friendly...

 

[TennesseeTruly]

We use this with our parrots. If we go from the chickens to the parrots, we step in bleach water or remove our shoes totally. We use hand cleaner as well so that we don't transfer anything from the chickens to the parrots.

Its the same way if we go to a Bird Fair or something of that nature. We never wear the same clothing or shoes around our birds. Its just common sense.

Laurie

 

[speckledhen]

Bleach may be hard on clothes if the shoes drip plus for example, bleach does not kill cocci (ammonia does). There are things that are better, overall, than bleach, though I do use a mild bleach solution that people spray on the soles of their shoes when they come here. Oxine would be an excellent choice or TekTrol (or Tek-something or other), which is made for this purpose.

 

[LynneP]

I have a closed flock so only my husband and I are with the birds. There is a porch leading from the barn aisleway into the coop, and we keep the concrete on that area heavily sprinkled with a mixture of food-grade DE and Stable Boy powder. That way we get dry access in egress without having to get our boots wet. I use the same mixture on the planks under the coop shavings and around the perimeter of our run.

 

[chickiebaby]

I only worry about the shoes of other people who also have chickens. If they are coming into our run then I give them a pair of muck boots or something, of ours.

If they don't have chickens I figure they dn't carry any chicken diseases.

Do y'all think that's good enough?

 

[speckledhen]

I don't let people inside the pen or coop usually, but on occasion, my birds do freerange and they go all over the place, even up on my deck where people have walked. That is why I ask people to disinfect their shoes when they come here.

Even if they don't have chickens, yes, they can track disease into your place. What if they walk over where Farmer Fred, who has infectious coryza in his flock, has walked? What if they stop into the feedstore to look at the chickies? See what I mean?

 

[chickiebaby]

ack. you are surely right. Evidently we need to rethink this around here.