racoon feces and free ranging

[Sparkychic]

Hi,
I am new here. Just got chickies 1 1/2 week ago. Soon enough will need to move them outside.
Last summer we had a terrible drought here. We have a stream and every raccoon from miles around was here each night.
I found myself having to check my entire yard(1 acre) for scat each day before exercising my dog in the yard. You may be aware that raccoon scat carries bayliscalis worms. Deadly.
I cleaned up everything I found and sanitized those spots, but who knows if I missed something. The eggs will last for 30 years.
Obviously, I want to protect my chickens from this threat.
Would it be safe to spray with
Vetoquinol 411623 Trifectant Disinfectant

and then make sure the area is watered well before allowing the chickens to graze in that area? It is not practical to pour boiling water on the whole yard, which is the only other way to kill this parasite.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!

It was so bad we have a picture of 2 baby raccoons sleeping on our front steps!!!! Adorable, but definitely not good.

 

[bee_wrangler]

Welcome Sparkychic! I had no idea about the coon scat, thanks for sharing. I lost my entire coop of Barred Rocks and Buff Brahma's last fall to a stinking coon. I fed him lead but not until after he killed them all. I just picked up some new hens the other day, I'm thinking of getting a pair of Guinea fowl to keep with the chickens in hope that they will let me know if something comes in the yard that is not welcome. Now I'm going to have to keep my eye out for scat too.

 

[Sparkychic]

Hey Bee-Wrangler. Sorry to hear about you losing your chickens. Didn't mean to scare you about the scat. They do not usually leave feces everywhere, but it was a weird summer. They will normally leave it at the base or in the crotch of trees or on top of wood pile or in piles of leaves and not normally a huge problem in yards unless you are over-run with them. However, it is worth looking out for. If you find it,clean it up immediately with throwaway gloves, boots and they even suggest goggles and air mask. DO NOT BURN IT. The eggs do not become active until about 2 weeks in the environment, so it's not bad if you get it right away. After that, you need to dig down a couple of inches of dirt and toss with it. Then pour boiling water in the hole to disinfect. Bleach will not kill it. Burning it spreads it in the air.

I'm too much of an expert on this.

After talking with several vets and finally the company that makes the Trifectant product, I got an answer to the problem. Although the product is not meant for porous surfaces(like dirt) I can spray it generously soaking the ground. It will kill the bayliscalis and then will biodegrade and essentially disappear in 7 days. Not perfect, but think it will work for larger areas.

Thanks for the reply. Any questions about coons, unfortunately I probably know the answer.
I'm actually saying that I know more than I want to know on this.

 

[dawg53]

Yep, you know the answer. Time to go coon hunting. The roundworm CAN infect chickens and other mammals, including humans.
http://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/Baylisascaris.htm
Here's what the worm can do in a human:

 

[Sparkychic]

That certainly is the most effective answer. However, we might shoot a neighbor. Just saying. You are right that is does affect humans also, but only happens if is ingested. Not intending to frighten everyone, just inform.

Thanks for the info.