Raising Chickens without a Coop

[SueT]

Btw, what breed(s) do you have?

 

[centrarchid]

Dogs can be effective against raptors.

 

[centrarchid]

What you are contemplating will be putside experience of most backyard keepers.

 

[centrarchid]

BY backing up, I mean some birds in a more secure location in the event something goes wrong.

Dogs need to be able to deny access to roosting birds by ground based predators. Then dogs must be able to get after any problems involving a raptor that comes to ground. Chickens larger than 2 lbs require even owl to come to ground.

 

[Folly's place]

You can get Salmonella infection from chicks or chickens that carry the bacteria; it's happened several times with chicks from a well-known hatchery. It's always best to wash up after handling any critters, wild or domestic, and small children aren't very good about that. On the other hand, most of us have eaten a lot of dirt in our lifetimes, and done just fine. Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not attempt to keep chickens without a secure night time coop. are your dogs out in the yard 24/7? That should help.

 

[bobbi-j]

I had a flock that roosted in the trees once... The great horned owls loved them. I knew the owls had found them when I came out in the morning to find decapitated chicken bodies under the trees. Personally, I think it's kinder to your birds to keep them safe at night.

 

[centrarchid]

I have had flocks that roosted in trees over extended periods of time. Experience sufficient to see when owls were and were not a problem. No guard animals (dogs) on ground meant at some point owl would come in and get even the biggest rooster. Good guard animals with roost site in core of property meant losses to owls seldom and selective for smaller birds in flock. Get birds immature birds to roost in more protected areas. Make so dog can get at locations where owl will grapple victims on ground. Dog will do rest. I have yet to see owl try to kill a chicken in tree. Kills and apparently first contact occurs in ground. A lot of commotion goes on prior to kill that can call dog in. Also consider constructing an open roost that can be partially surrounded by deer netting. Owls seem to avoid the netting in a big way.

 

[aart]

. What are the chances my young children will get salmonella if they play among the chickens?

Thorough hand washing, plain soap and lots of running water will greatly reduce the risk....keeping hand out/off of mouths/eyes/faces too, tho not sure how old your kids are....tiny ones that can be impossible.

Zero ...
Humans do not catch salmonella from chicks or chickens the way you would catch a cold from your neighbor. Salmonella is food poisoning; you get it from eating infected meat or eggs.

Um, no...I believe that they can get it from handling the chicks/poop.
When it's contracted from eggs/meat, it's because they are contaminated with poop.


ETA: Oops...sorry for the redundancy, didn't read all the posts before posting.

 

[Kiki]

I must be confused/wrong.
Here is what I read.
Salmonella enteritidis
A species that commonly causes gastrointestinal infections. Approx. 10% to 20% of food poisoning cases arecaused by S. enteritidis. The organism lives in the ovaries of chickens and contaminates eggs before theshells are formed. The infection is passed to humans when they eat raw eggs (e.g., in homemade ice cream,salad dressings, eggnog) or cooked eggs in which the yolk is still runny. It also lives in the intestinal tracts ofanimals and may be found in water or meat that is contaminated with feces and is inadequately washed andcooked. Infants, elderly persons, and immunocompromised patients are at greatest risk. See: diarrhea; raw egg; enterocolitis
See also: Salmonella

I STOPPED reading oops at the end of the bold writing.