horses and chicken poo

[birdbrain5]

I try to keep my chickens out of the horse pasture, but they venture in there sometimes. I was wondering if they poop in the fields on the grass, is this okay for the horses? I havent heard anything before about it being an issue, and I know people who have chickens and horses in close quarters. I worm pretty regularly, but I just wanted to ask...

 

[Akane]

So long as it isn't a huge concentration (don't let them roost on feeders or over hay) then it is not an issue. Chickens actually help lessen bacteria and parasites in horse pastures by scratching out manure piles and turning the dirt. You'd have to have a lot of chickens for the horses to come in to contact with more chicken poop than the wild bird poop they already encounter.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Horses, unlike dogs, have no natural instinct to eat manure and if they encounter some in the grass, they will simply eat around it. As Akane said, try to keep them out of mangers, hay racks, etc... Plastic tub mangers, bolted to the wall are a PAIN to clean if a chicken ever poops in them.

ETA Chickens are wonderful for breaking up horse manure, eating any grain that gets passed undigested, eating bugs and also conditioning horses for coming across scary creatures like grouse and turkeys on the trail.

 

[chickenzoo]

My chickens are very well trained on horse poo.... as soon as they see a horse tail go up- they scramble like wild animals to see who gets there sooner and eat the passed oats! I haven't had to use a poo fork in months.....

 

[patandchickens]

Pooing on the pasture is fine.

You do not however want a whole lot of chicken poo in your *hay storage*, just in case that is an issue.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat