Okay, first off this is not a bash the commercial operations post. I am wondering why commercial farms are so inundated (allegedly) with salmonella? Years ago I was told that the reason for salmonella in eggs was that the producers would "starve" the layers in order to increase production. I'm still new to keeping chickens, but with all of the reading I've done (here and elsewhere), that seems an unlikely thing. Happy well fed chickens equals more eggs right? Much could be said of big time producers, but stupid is not one of them. If they weaken their chickens, they are just begging for a flock epidemic of one sort or another. Again I'm not trolling for "spank commercial producer stuff" here. I'm just trying to understand. While we are at it, what are the conditions required for salmonella to get the upper hand? I would expect two different scenarios. One being a depressed immune system (stress, environmental factors, lack of food, etc). The other being over exposure to the pathogen such as eating something that has a large colony of the bacterial (bacteria not virus right?) on/in it, inhalation (if salmonella can even be airborne?), or introduction into the bloodstream though a wound or mucus membrane. I'm sure there are other means of infection. I also expect it is not just exposure, it is the quality and quantity of exposure. I say this because they have even found out that it is not just exposure to HIV that is required to get AIDS, but the amount of exposure. Plenty of cases where direct blood stream contact did not infect recipient out there. So what is the problem with commercial interests? I'm asking, because if I can understand the "how", I can take steps to prevent exposure to myself and my chickens. I'm not a pathologist, so my understanding of all of this is pretty rudimentary. I'm also not overly paranoid about these things, but common sense says to be informed and make adjustments if reasonable.