Samonella and free range

[ImToast]

I am new here and for a reason. I want to start raising chickens and I am a real city boy novice. A friend of mine raises chickens and it has me thinking about it as well. I already have raised bed gardens everywhere I have a piece of dirt available, and now I have an area I left open for animals

. Time to get to work...lol.

My friend lets his chickens go free range and they have a habit that I wondered about. They eat the cow manure and dog droppings. I heard that the samonella outbreak was due to field mice getting into the chicken feed and leaving droppings that tainted the food. Could this same thing happen with my friends chickens?

Thank you

 

[Beekissed]

The reason commercial chickens get salmonella and keep it is more complicated than rat droppings, I'm afraid.

Your birds are perfectly safe to free range and eat whatever dog or cow manure they can find. Birds have been doing that for thousands of years without people dying of salmonella infected eggs. Its only when the commercial growers create prime conditions for salmonella to thrive in their flocks do you ever hear about it.

Range on!

 

[thaiturkey]

According to Wikipedia, this is how Salmonella is spread:

Sources of infection

* Unclean food, particularly in institutional kitchens and restaurants,
* Excretions from either sick or infected but apparently clinically healthy people and animals (especially endangered are caregivers and animals),
* Polluted surface water and standing water (such as in shower hoses or unused water dispensers),
* Unhygienically thawed fowl (the meltwater contains many bacteria),
* An association with reptiles (pet tortoises and snakes)(primarily aquatic turtles) is well described.[17]

Salmonella bacteria can survive several weeks in a dry environment and several months in water; thus, they are frequently found in polluted water, contamination from the excrement of carrier animals being particularly important. Aquatic vertebrates, notably birds and reptiles, are important vectors of salmonella. Poultry, cattle, and sheep frequently being agents of contamination, salmonella can be found in food, particularly meats and eggs.

It's not just down to intensive farming. The bacteria are ever present to some degree, even if all of the hygiene rules are followed. You can get food poisoning from eating inadequately cooked chicken, turkey and pork. Similarly, inadequately cooked or raw egg products such as mayonnaise can bring you down.

If everyone stopped doing things for which they might get sued, nothing would get done. I know that much of the Western world has gone crazy over suing and liability but surely some common sense remains. If you can show that you follow the rules you should be safe from litigation.

Anyone in business should buy liability insurance and, in the case of food businesses, products liability insurance. Even an unsuccessful law suit against you can be expensive in terms of legal fees. If you sell something you must allow for something going wrong one day.