Sanitation!!

[ChickenWaterer]

I feel the chickens themselves are healthier if they are not raised or kept in a sterile environment. I depend on strengthening their immune system so they can better handle more of what nature throws at them. From what you described I don't think you are that fanatic about it either, especially with what I sometimes read on here. I think yours are being exposed to their environment.

Yes, they will walk and scratch in their poop. If the coop and to a lesser extent run are dry, their feet will stay pretty clean. Not perfectly clean but pretty clean. You can look at them up close and see how dirty their feet really are. When they take a dust bath the dirt usually has dried poop in it. There is stuff in nature not related to poop that is not especially healthy. When they get on and off a nest they do walk on the eggs. They settle their feathers on the eggs. So there is a chance something bad can be on your eggs. I see no reason to lie to you.

When the hen lays an egg she puts a layer we call bloom on it. When the egg is laid it looks wet but that quickly dries. Bloom helps keep bacteria out of the porous egg. It is so effective a hen can hide a nest and lay eggs in it for two weeks, then incubate the eggs for three weeks and bacteria does not get in and kill the embryo. Other poultry like ducks can incubate for five weeks. Bloom is pretty effective as long as it stays intact. If you wash it off though it cannot protect.

I don't consider myself a germaphobe but after I handle chickens or eggs I wash my hands. If eggs have visible dirt or poop on them I wash them (which removes the bloom) and store them in the refrigerator. When they are that cold bacteria cannot multiply so the eggs are not going to go bad. Some people wash and refrigerate all their eggs. I store my clean eggs on the kitchen counter without first washing them. With the bloom intact they stay good for over a month. I wash them before I use them though.

I don't consider washing my hands after I handle eggs or chickens as being a germaphobe. I don't consider washing the eggs before I use them as being excessivbe. I think it is common sense.

I'm building on the good advice Ridgerunner supplied with regard to the bloom on eggs. If you have an egg that has got some poop on it, you should wash it in hot water. This removes most of the contamination but it will also remove the bloom that protects the egg. After washing the egg, be sure to dry it thoroughly with a paper towel before placing it in the refrigerator. Without the bloom, the shell is porous and if the egg is wet when placed in the refrigerator you run the risk that any remaining bacteria on the outside of the shell will migrate into the egg along with the water. In commercial egg production, all eggs are washed and I believe they are also dipped in some sort of sanitizing solution. If you're really concerned about this, you might do a google search on egg sanitizers. I don't sanitize my eggs and have not had an issue. I find that cleaning them and drying them thoroughly works well for me.

 

[doublecrossranch]

My husband is building my poop boards this weekend.

 

[Justso]

X2

 

[Ladies-Eight]

My husband is building my poop boards this weekend.

Please post a picture of the poop boards when you have completed them. Thanks!

 

[doublecrossranch]

Please post a picture of the poop boards when you have completed them. Thanks!

he decided it would be to hard to make. My coop is 12’ wide and we don’t have any boards that long. So guess who got permission to sure the power drill?! I’m going to make it in 2 pieces. I’ll post pictures when I’m done. I’m sure it will look fancy and professional. Haha

 

[Ladies-Eight]

So I'll start off by saying I'm a bit of a germaphobe. My girls are almost ready to lay. I clean out their coop once a week and give it some clean pine chips in there. I also sanitize their drinker and feeder with a vinegar solution. the run is sand based so I scoop that out once a week too. Is that sanitary? I keep thinking their walking all over their poop? mean I see a lot of people out there have dirt runs and I'm assuming they don't clean them very often? Just curious to see if there's anything I'm missing.

Chickens use to survive with no more than food and water. Then we added a coop for them with some protection. If we clean too much we may harm them from an immune disfunction.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I feel the chickens themselves are healthier if they are not raised or kept in a sterile environment. I depend on strengthening their immune system so they can better handle more of what nature throws at them. From what you described I don't think you are that fanatic about it either, especially with what I sometimes read on here. I think yours are being exposed to their environment.

Yes, they will walk and scratch in their poop. If the coop and to a lesser extent run are dry, their feet will stay pretty clean. Not perfectly clean but pretty clean. You can look at them up close and see how dirty their feet really are. When they take a dust bath the dirt usually has dried poop in it. There is stuff in nature not related to poop that is not especially healthy. When they get on and off a nest they do walk on the eggs. They settle their feathers on the eggs. So there is a chance something bad can be on your eggs. I see no reason to lie to you.

When the hen lays an egg she puts a layer we call bloom on it. When the egg is laid it looks wet but that quickly dries. Bloom helps keep bacteria out of the porous egg. It is so effective a hen can hide a nest and lay eggs in it for two weeks, then incubate the eggs for three weeks and bacteria does not get in and kill the embryo. Other poultry like ducks can incubate for five weeks. Bloom is pretty effective as long as it stays intact. If you wash it off though it cannot protect.

I don't consider myself a germaphobe but after I handle chickens or eggs I wash my hands. If eggs have visible dirt or poop on them I wash them (which removes the bloom) and store them in the refrigerator. When they are that cold bacteria cannot multiply so the eggs are not going to go bad. Some people wash and refrigerate all their eggs. I store my clean eggs on the kitchen counter without first washing them. With the bloom intact they stay good for over a month. I wash them before I use them though.

I don't consider washing my hands after I handle eggs or chickens as being a germaphobe. I don't consider washing the eggs before I use them as being excessivbe. I think it is common sense.

AMEN!!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

he decided it would be to hard to make. My coop is 12’ wide and we don’t have any boards that long. So guess who got permission to sure the power drill?! I’m going to make it in 2 pieces. I’ll post pictures when I’m done. I’m sure it will look fancy and professional. Haha

I'll bet it will! If you have some branches from a tree they may be long enough.

 

[1muttsfan]

You have received excellent advice. I'm going to address the germiphobe aspect in relation to your chickens.

We confine farm animals for their safety and for our convenience. Animals that roam free are at a lower density, and free to move away from soiled areas. Confined animals are constricted to living with their own soil. One of the challenges of farming is to provide a relatively clean environment. If you think chickens are hard, try cows.

Animal can live with a certain level of soil without ill consequences, however it is always a good idea to avoid excess moisture, strong odors (particularly the ammonia that results from nitrous wastes), and excess fecal material in the nest boxes. This can be done in many ways, including different beddings, providing adequate ventilation, and providing the level of cleaning necessary for the size of the enclosure and the number of birds present. If you notice bad odors or excess moisture, that indicates cleaning is needed. If the bedding is not wet (slightly moist is not a problem), there are no objectionable odors, and the birds are not tracking poop into the nest box, you are doing fine. I clean my coop out in the fall, then gradually add pine shavings as the winter progresses, to keep the moisture down and provide good footing. Everything in there freezes solid for most of the winter, so in the spring I will get some odor, which I manage by shoveling out the dirtiest bedding (once it thaws), spreading PDZ, and adding some extra shavings as needed.

I can not overstate the value of good ventilation.

Like others in cold climates sand in the run has not worked well for me - freezes up solid in the winter, and stinks to high heaven in the spring and when it rains. On the advice of others here I started adding partially decayed wood chips (thanks Cloverland Electric who left a big pile when chipping nearby - they thought I was nuts to want a pile of chips the size of a Volkswagen). If you let them sit until the worms start showing up, they are just right to spread in the run. I make sure there is a good layer in there every fall.

I also wash my hands after handling birds or doing chicken chores.

 

[Charlenesmom]

So I'll start off by saying I'm a bit of a germaphobe. My girls are almost ready to lay. I clean out their coop once a week and give it some clean pine chips in there. I also sanitize their drinker and feeder with a vinegar solution. the run is sand based so I scoop that out once a week too. Is that sanitary? I keep thinking their walking all over their poop? mean I see a lot of people out there have dirt runs and I'm assuming they don't clean them very often? Just curious to see if there's anything I'm missing.

Wow, I’m not a germaphobe and I also have a sand base in my coop, which I scoop out daily. The coop which is inside a 8x12 run has a dirt floor, which I scoop daily as well.
I have a long handled metal litter scoop and the whole thing takes maybe 10 minutes. Once it’s clean it pretty much stays that way as they are free range in my fenced property and do their pooping outside their run.
After I clean the run I lightly rake it to turn over the dirt so damp spots can dry. I like to keep things clean.