Raiding the compost bin

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Ever hear of botulism? Do you know what the affects are from it? Death, unless you are very, very lucky. I think I'll keep to restricting what my birds have access to , thank-you. I eat their eggs and somethings do pass through.
 
Haunted55 said:
Ever hear of botulism? Do you know what the affects are from it? Death, unless you are very, very lucky. I think I'll keep to restricting what my birds have access to , thank-you. I eat their eggs and somethings do pass through.
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Please explain to me how botulism can be a threat here. We're talking about birds scratching in a compost pile, turning dirt over in an aerobic environment. Botulism requires an anaerobic environment to live. I'm missing the connection.

No one's saying you have to feed your bird anything you're uncomfortable with. I just wish those of us who have a higher tolerance for what our birds can eat wouldn't be told all the time we're putting our birds at risk. They're chickens, for heaven's sake. They can eat some pretty nasty stuff and turn it into nice, healthy eggs for me. And the thing is, they're happy eating that nasty stuff! It's not like I'm starving them and they have no choice. They choose scraps over feed hands down.
 
dawg53 said:
You are what you eat. So goes with your chickens. That includes all the chemicals, antibiotics and hormones....known and unknown... in the garbage you tossed out for them to eat. So, what are you getting ready to eat in the "fresh" eggs or the "fresh" meat on your plate?
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So I hear what your saying, here dawg, but I think the logic is flawed. I use manure on my fields to feed the lettuce crop, but that doesn't mean I'm eating turds when I make a salad. Perhaps my usage of the word "garbage" was misconstrued. Anyway, you have every right to feel this way, but I believe it's not rational and it's unscientific. And I don't have much in the way of "chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones" in my compost pile. Because I don't eat that kind of food myself, so there's none of it in my scrap bucket, and as to what comes out of the gardens or fields, our farm is organic. As we say, "don't panic, it's organic!" Chickens and swine are commonly referred to as "recyclers" for their ability to convert waste and byproducts into delicious and healthy food--this goes back the the beginnings of agriculture.



Michael Apple said:
Botulism: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism

Aspergillosis: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/7/aspergillosis

Caecal worms/Histomaniasis: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/20/caecal-worm

Ulcerative enteritis: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/162/ulcerative-enteritis-quail-disease

Those are just a few problems you can expect from allowing your poultry to rummage through compost. You can choose to listen to "feeling" or fact.
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If you read my original post, I already addressed how I feel about taking this tack. I have yet to experience any losses attributable to any of these problems. Botulism is only in anaerobic environments, anyway, such as improperly canned foods, and is quite rare even so, so you're doubly unlikely to find it in a compost pile. I don't even know what half these other things are because in 25 years of raising chickens on a healthy diet in the the fresh air I have yet to encounter problems from them, as far as I know anyway (this is fact). Most people with small, healthy backyard flocks will never experience such either. Diseases are indeed real (also fact), but it is in my opinion a poorly conceived approach to waste time and resources concerning yourself with every horrible thing that COULD happen (my personal feeling), while simultaneously depriving your livestock of a natural environment and forgoing the use of resources like compost-forage or scraps that can make keeping chickens more practical and economical (fact). That would be a great shame. There are reasonable precautions people can take to promote health and wellbeing in their flocks and boost immunity without resorting to scaring themselves and others away from natural, integrative methods and denying natural poultry behavior.
 
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donrae said:
Please explain to me how botulism can be a threat here. We're talking about birds scratching in a compost pile, turning dirt over in an aerobic environment. Botulism requires an anaerobic environment to live. I'm missing the connection.

No one's saying you have to feed your bird anything you're uncomfortable with. I just wish those of us who have a higher tolerance for what our birds can eat wouldn't be told all the time we're putting our birds at risk. They're chickens, for heaven's sake. They can eat some pretty nasty stuff and turn it into nice, healthy eggs for me. And the thing is, they're happy eating that nasty stuff! It's not like I'm starving them and they have no choice. They choose scraps over feed hands down.
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The OP was concerned about moldy fruit eaten by chickens in the compost pile, and justifiably so. I guess you've never heard of Limberneck aka botulism:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism
"The toxin is produced in decaying animal (usually carcases) and plant waste, and toxin-containing material (pond-mud, carcases, maggots) is consumed by the birds. Toxin may also be produced by the bacteria in the caecum. Morbidity is usually low but mortality is high."

To say one isn't putting their birds at risk by allowing access to these substances would be dishonest. If you see those facts as offensive, then there's not much to discuss with you. We're talking about mold, bacteria, and parasites that are increased potential for disease and mortality in this situation. Scraps are a very poor definition of potential foods for chickens. Much depends on what those "scraps" are, and whether or not they are beneficial to a chicken's diet. I'll reserve the area of my compost pile on the other side of the fence, where chickens can't have access to it. It is for the garden, not my chickens' digestive system. I recommend others do the same.
 
I have a two step composting system. All my kitchen scraps are put into a container on the counter, minus meats, and when that's full I dump it into my compost tumbler. I add shavings from the barn into the tumbler, randomly. Once the tumbler is full and has been cooking for about three months, I dump it into my pallet compost bin, which the chickens have full access to.
It's a pretty new system for me, it took a while to figure out what would work for me. I don't worry about the chickens getting into something that's already been "cooking". And I'll continue to do it, without worry.
I've read plenty of articles about compost farms that employ chickens, who only get fed what they find while mixing those compost heaps.
 
Quote: You listed slim possibilities

REALITY is chickens seldom have problems eating those things. much in the same way you insisted Avocados were "deadly" while ignoring the fact a 4 lb chicken would need to consume a POUND to be harmed.

There was nothing "irrational" about the statement I made
It's simply the truth
Chickens commonly eat those things with NO ill effects

Quote: I never said it isn't "a risk"
I said it's not ENOUGH of a risk to really worry about
 
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