Ground Beef Incident

[FlappyCoop]

Hi all! I am new to raising chicks and more so having them inside of my house! It’s been a task but it’s too cold to let them out yet and their mom stopping sitting on them (I finished the hatching in an incubator).

Last night I started making tacos and while breaking up the ground beef, some got on the floor and the chicks quickly ran over and snatched it before I could even grab it up. I am sure they got little pieces.

My worry is about E. coli. Given that they’re living in my house and do come out of the box to run around a bit, they do poop on the floor (which I quickly clean up). They’re not out without me or my son watching for poop. I’m just worried now that they’ve eaten raw meat, that their feces may contain E. coli and I don’t want it spreading to my son or ourselves. Any insight/advice?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

They will be fine. Those little carnivores probably spread more ecoli than that beef would. Just clean up after them and wash hands.

 

[FlappyCoop]

They will be fine. Those little carnivores probably spread more ecoli than that beef would. Just clean up after them and wash hands.

Thank you

 

[Folly's place]

And don't feed them any more raw meat!
Mary

 

[FlappyCoop]

And don't feed them any more raw meat!
Mary

Never!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I know it was an accident, but it would have been hilarious to see them all running for it!

 

[FlappyCoop]

I know it was an accident, but it would have been hilarious to see them all running for it!

they were wild and sooo fast!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

My worry is about E. coli. Given that they’re living in my house and do come out of the box to run around a bit, they do poop on the floor (which I quickly clean up). They’re not out without me or my son watching for poop. I’m just worried now that they’ve eaten raw meat, that their feces may contain E. coli and I don’t want it spreading to my son or ourselves. Any insight/advice?

Then fix the box. If you are taking them out because it is too small, get a bigger box. If they can escape, fix it so they can't. Don't let them out. And remember to wash your hands anytime you handle them or clean the box.

Chickens are omnivores. A broody hen feeds her chicks raw meat any time she can. She'll rip big stuff like lizards, frogs, or mice into bite sized bits with her beak if she can catch one, let alone all the little living things they eat. It is not surprising that they loved that raw hamburger. They'll eat it cooked too.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ This.

Lots of old time recipes relied on "meat scraps" to round out a chicken's diet. No harm done.

If your birds already have e coli, whether they eat raw meat or not won't change that fact - its already in your environment. If they don't have e coli, and the tiny bit of bhamburger does, it still has to survive a trip thru the chicken's gut, and beat out all the other bacteria already there to successfully infect the bird.

Fix the box. Consider this a learning lesson for the future - particularly if you intend to incubate again, which I assume you do, or you likely would not have invested in an incubator in the first place. and next time, don't incubate when you are forced to keep the birds inside due to weather for longer than their anticipated time in the brooder box.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I consider raw hamburger to be an acceptable substitute for bugs and feed raw meat regularly to my flock. If it's good enough for humans, it's surely good enough for chickens!
I also train them to 'hunt' and kill rodents to supplement their protein intake.
My 'crew' pay for a living by de-bugging and de-verminizing this little half-acre, with a full supplementation to their efforts with grain (daily) and a bit of raw meat now and again.