Is chicken poop very bad for chicks to be near?

[Oceanic109]

My outside coop that houses my chickens during the night is starting to get pretty poopy under the roost and i was wondering if my new 3rd generation of chicks will start getting sick from all this poop? Before the poop from the chickens wasn't so bad as now so I was thinking i should clean it out before the chicks get out of the nest with their two moms. Will my chicks get sick from the poop and possibly even die?

 

[MySweetChickens]

I would suggest cleaning the coop just in case.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

x2

 

[Ridgerunner]

They’ll eat some poop. That’s a good thing. That’s how they build up flock immunities and get probiotics the adults have. But if they eat too much poop, especially damp or wet poop, they can get an overdose of stuff. An overdose can be bad. Cleaning up the worst of it is probably a good idea. But don’t freak out if they eat a bit.

 

[chickincrazy]

I'd say clean it instead of risking disease.

 

[donrae]

They’ll eat some poop. That’s a good thing. That’s how they build up flock immunities and get probiotics the adults have. But if they eat too much poop, especially damp or wet poop, they can get an overdose of stuff. An overdose can be bad. Cleaning up the worst of it is probably a good idea. But don’t freak out if they eat a bit.

This.

Honestly, if your adult birds have any disease that could be passed along in the poop, the littles are going to get it anyway. Just keep it to a minimum.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What I was thinking is that Coccidiosis thrives in wet poop. If it gets thick enough to be wet, it can become a danger. The chicks eating some Coccidiosis "ocysts" are fine. They need those to develop immunity. But if the number of Coccidiosis bugs gets out of control, then the chick becomes sick and can even die. When most get sick is when they are in wet conditions. The Coccidiosis thrives in that wet stuff so they just eat too many of them when they peck at the wet poop or just wet ground that they have been pooping on.

If that stuff has built up to where it is very thick it is probably moist and maybe smelling some anyway. It’s a good idea to remove that as a precaution. The chicks pecking at dry poop is not a big concern. That’s natural. But the poop and the ground they poop on needs to remain as dry as you can manage.