Salmonella

[Chickadee55]

I want to raise chickens for eggs. My question is how do I prevent salmonella? I've heard that it gets inside the shell as well as the outside.

 

[CMV]

Keep your chickens in tidy living conditions with clean feed and water. This is the easiest way to prevent salmonella. I wouldn't worry too much about salmonella in your backyard flock. It is not very common.

Good luck.

 

[Chickadee55]

Do you clean your eggs in a certain solution?

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

With the recent salmonella crisis, I can see why you would ask about it. However, most commercial egg companies (though they may say free range) are actually kept in cramped and untidy living quarters.


If you own chickens and give them room to roam and keep their living conditions clean, you should be fine

 

[gritsar]

MotherEarthNews magazine has had several excellent articles on eggs and salmonella. Here's the latest one:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/happy-homesteader/salmonella-outbreak-zb0z10zrog.aspx

The article before this one, sorry I couldn't find it with a quick search, actually showed that you are less likely to get salmonella from a healthy backyard flock than you are from a commercial egg farm.

ETA: Here's the other article (it was in backyardpoultry magazine, not MEN):

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/5/5-5/backyard_chicken_eggs_are_safe.html