Possible Salmonella?

[20andy19]

Hi, recently i have been in hospital for 2 months and had to hire help with my chickens.

Upon returning home i found the hired help wasn't tending to my feathered friends very well! He hadnt been cleaning or locking the feed away! Which has attracted rats, not just one... I have 'dealt' with around 15 rats so far of which 7 where very large, bigger than my hens that are a small breed im lead to believe they are Belgian D'anvers? I will post photos tomorrow.

Now my concern is that these rats may have given my chickens salmonella and or other bacteria or diseases, i did before my hospital stay eat my chicken eggs on a daily basis and now i refuse to eat them until i find out for sure if they are safe or not.

1 question i have is how long does salmonella live in the chicken poop? I am going to take a faecal sample to a laboratory for testing but i dont want to spend £159 without knowing if the salmonella will still be alive/detectable on the poop? Iv read that on hard surfaces and fabric salmonella only lives for 1-4 hours and by the time i get my sample to the laboratory it will be around 12+ hours old, so does anyone know if salmonella lives longer in chicken poop and can be detected or will i be wasting my money by the time the sample arrives at the laboratory?

My hens poop looked normal before my hospital stay, i cleaned them on a weekly basis and fed them lots of fruit, veg,seeds and premium laying pellets. All feed had always been locked away but my hired help left it open for rats and other pests to help them selves to. i found alot of large rat poop in the stored feed which has now been discarded but i know the hired help had been feeding them it with the rat poop in.

Now my chickens have watery, greenish sometimes yellowish and sometimes foamy poops. I fear this is caused by bacteria due to the lack of care from my hired help.

I also noticed upon return home that there was 100s of large and tiny rat poops all over the coop!

Can any one help me please.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

salmonella in the poop would be somewhat normal, similar to how there is always e. coli in your gut. It's only an issue if poop contaminates your undercooked eggs or meat.

 

[20andy19]

salmonella in the poop would be somewhat normal, similar to how there is always e. coli in your gut. It's only an issue if poop contaminates your undercooked eggs or meat.

Oh, i didnt know.

The eggs before i went into hospital where always clean, but now since i returned seem to be quite dirty with chicken poop all over, are these still safe to eat?

I am concerned about how my hens poops have changed, would you advise me to still take a sample to get them checked for anything which is causing the change in the poop?

Thank you for your help

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Well, you do indicate that there's been a change of diet, so I would assume it is that. Dirty eggs can be from dirty nestboxes and/or someone sleeping in the boxes.

 

[20andy19]

Well, you do indicate that there's been a change of diet, so I would assume it is that. Dirty eggs can be from dirty nestboxes and/or someone sleeping in the boxes.

The only change in diet i believe is that the fresh fruit and veg had stopped and the person looking after the hens had been feeding the premium laying pellets.

thank you for your input, i think ill give the hens some worming medicine and see if that helps the poop go back to normal, if it does i will try a couple of the eggs then report back 3-5 days.

Wish me luck

 

[PirateGirl]

You said the help hadn't been cleaning. A dirty coop and run leads to dirty eggs. Chickens walk through the poop and the muck and right into their nest boxes. Dirty eggs are still safe to eat (for example my ducks love to make mud puddles and then I end up with muddy eggs), wash them in warm water, the water is recommended to be 20 degrees hotter than the egg. The key is not to wash them in water colder than the egg. Refrigerate them. Cook thoroughly.

I'd give everything a good clean. Addressing the health of your chickens is important if you think they are now ill. Others have commented some on that.

I think you can get thing back under control. If your helper hadn't been collecting the eggs regularly I wouldn't eat any that have been lying in the coop since you don't know how long they were there, but I don't see any reason why you can't eat new eggs that are laid. Especially now that you know the birds will have adequate access to feed and fresh water.