Salmonella question and Organic feed question

[HBailey24]

Hello All,

I am new to the forum. My family just received two 5 month old Buff Orpingtons. One is already laying eggs. They are great. I have two questions. The first- how high is the threat of the chickens contracting salmonella? Can they get it if they eat food that has been contaminated by their droppings? Sometimes when we feed them treats like fruit, it gets on the ground where the chickens have pooped, and then they eat it. Is this a problem? Is it something that we need to be better about preventing??

Also, how much better is organic feed vs regular feed. The bag that we bought says it is all natural and doesn't contain anything artificial, but it is not organic. The feed store employee said there is little difference besides the price. Does anybody have any feedback about this?

Thank You,
Heather

 

[WallTenters]

Hi Heather, welcome!

Don't worry you will soon have many more chickens, that's the way chicken math works!

I would not worry about the feces/food unless your coop is dirty. If you can smell it, it is dirty. We use the deep litter method with good success (search the forums). If their coop/run/feeding area is fairly clean, they should be fine. Chickens (and us!) need salmonella to break down some of the things we eat. It's actually rather healthy for us. It's just an excess of it. Search youtube for some videos of commercial poultry raising and you'll see why they are so freaked about salmonella - I would never let one of my beloved birds step foot in that filth.

And as far as the organic, I honestly don't think the price is worth it. Of course, we have combined over 200 birds including our chicks. If you have just two hens, a bag of feed is going to last a long time, so it's going to be not as hard a hit. We let our birds free range, they are happy and healthy and loved, and to me that's more important than an organic label any day.

Have fun with your chooks! They are a blast!

 

[Ariel301]

The biggest difference in organic vs. nonorganic food will be that the organic food shouldn't contain genetically modified grains or residue from herbicides/pesticides/chemical fertilizer used on the crops. It's not a guarantee that none of it is in there, as a conventional farm using all that stuff can be located right next door to an organic farm, contaminating the organic farm with all its stuff.

I would not worry about salmonella at all. It was not even really an issue until commercial henhouses housing millions of hens in small filthy cages. Salmonella poisoning pretty much only happens with commercial eggs. Many small farmers, myself included, don't even refrigerate our eggs.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

ALL READERS-
PLEASE DISREGARD THE FOLLOWING FROM A PREVIOUS POST AS IT IS INCREDIBLY WRONG!

I would not worry about salmonella at all. It was not even really an issue until commercial henhouses housing millions of hens in small filthy cages. Salmonella poisoning pretty much only happens with commercial eggs. Many small farmers, myself included, don't even refrigerate our eggs.

Do your own research of scientific sources and do not rely on the "they say" and the "I heard" experts. ​

 

[Ariel301]

Quote:
Do your own research of scientific sources and do not rely on the "they say" and the "I heard" experts.

Perhaps you should ask what my sources are before you get insulting. I've been involved with the livestock health and food industries for quite some time. As much as the USDA would like you to think that the eggs on the grocery store shelf are perfectly safe and that eggs from well-kept small farms are poison bombs, it's not the case. If you can actually find the data, it turns out that there's almost never a case of salmonella from small-farm eggs, but plenty from commercial egg factories. Why do you think they have to pastuerize and irradiate so many commercial eggs? I've been raising chickens and eating their eggs (even raw) for 20 years and spent 9 semesters at a university studying food animal science.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Do your own research of scientific sources and do not rely on the "they say" and the "I heard" experts.

Perhaps you should ask what my sources are before you get insulting. I've been involved with the livestock health and food industries for quite some time. As much as the USDA would like you to think that the eggs on the grocery store shelf are perfectly safe and that eggs from well-kept small farms are poison bombs, it's not the case. If you can actually find the data, it turns out that there's almost never a case of salmonella from small-farm eggs, but plenty from commercial egg factories. Why do you think they have to pastuerize and irradiate so many commercial eggs? I've been raising chickens and eating their eggs (even raw) for 20 years and spent 9 semesters at a university studying food animal science.

If you can actually find the data, it turns out that there's almost never a case of salmonella from small-farm eggs, but plenty from commercial egg factories

How many, "small-farm" do you know that have there birds tested for Salmonella?

Chris​

 

[SlowMoneyFarm]

That's my question too - most small places don't test. I don't. Studies also show salmonella is everywhere, and that those birds on the ground (and access to feces) have higher levels of contact. Probably also more immunity...but if 5,000 small flocks are never tested it doesn't mean that it's not there. Personally, I don't worry about it; but I do speak up when people say it won't happen in small flocks. We don't know if it's not tested and it's doubtful USDA is going to test every flock. That happened with dairies for 'food safety' and now some states you can't buy milk to make soap. I hope eggs don't end up the same...but also if someone gets sick from eggs from a small flock it'll get ugly in a hurry.

 

[paperdragonfarm]

Is the absence of evidence, evidence of absence? That's a good question and one I'll gladly leave unanswered. Gods help me, that's all I need is the USDA to require me to pay out the nose for a test for a bacteria that is pretty much all over any way.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:
Agreed!
The best and most prudent way to protect from Salmonella that may exist in eggs is to properly cook them. Just like Mom (and the govenment food scientists) said we should.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote: