Separate shoes for chicken run?

[rosemarythyme]

I normally wear a general pair of yard work boots that don't leave the property. With avian flu being a concern in my area right now, I've picked up an extra set of cheaper booties (and a pair for hubby too) that are solely for use in the chicken run, and we store them in a large lidded trash can by the chicken area.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Definitely have separate shoes for the chickens! They are rubber and rinse off easily with a hose.

 

[Alagirl]

I do because i dont wanna bring home other diseases from feed stores etc

I am trying to implement it for that reason. At this point Avian Flu has not made a big impact here, but I thought about it at the same moment I stepped into my enclosure after I had been at the feed store, walking all around there, and coming home without changing shoes. I think a complete separation is difficult for my situation, but I am trying to get used to having play shoes and 'school' shoes again.
And clothes.
The poop is of little concern.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have rubber muck boots for chicken chores and other mucky yardwork and keep them just barely inside my back door (I've had bad results with keeping yardwork clothes outside -- you only share your shoes with a palmetto bug or put on a pair of garden gloves that have a wasp in the fingertip ONCE).

I don't like tracking poop into the house. It doesn't just fall off when dry -- it hardens like concrete.

If Avian Flu becomes a serious risk here (rather than a moderate concern), I will have to get a pair of crocks or some such thing that I can easily shake bugs out of to keep next to the coop.

Yes, our great-grandparents worried less about such things, but in our great-grandparents day it was also common for people to die of illnesses that we readily treat today.

For example, a bought of Salmonella, etc. today will make national news and result in massive recalls and processing plant shutodowns. Back then people got sick and sometimes died of "food poisoning" and no one thought twice because it was a normal life event.

 

[Maureen in Chesterton]

I have shoes I slip on whenever I go outside just so I don't track a mess in the house. In the house I wear house shoes. It's not to do with chickens specifically, it's about tracking trash in the house from the chickens, from working in the garden, cutting the grass, or doing about anything else outside. I also have certain shoes I wear when out in the general public. My work shoes aren't exactly meant for public display. My work clothes aren't either.

This is what we do as well...my 'chicken shoes' are worn when gardening / hanging out in the yard also. I don't wear 'going into public' shoes there to try to keep the public shoes looking somewhat nice. I will change out of my 'dog walking shoes' into 'chicken shoes' if I'm going into the run, in part because of biosecurity but mostly so I don't have chicken poop filling in the treads of my walking / hiking shoes.

 

[M Brennen]

I always wear separate barn/coop boots in addition to my street/everyday shoes. I have a high pair, a low pair and a winter pair. Avian flu has been in the news in our area lately so I am really careful about who goes in my coop.

 

[NatJ]

In process of building my run/coop but have been seeing talk of separate shoes for walking inside chicken run. (We are in AZ desert.) Is this something that is commonplace and everyone does?

I've always had at least two pairs of shoes or boots.
One set goes outside (yard, garden, chickens, etc.) They are allowed to get dirty.
The other set is kept nice for going places away from home (school, church, grocery store, work, etc.)

I have never had a special chicken-only pair.

The idea of a pair JUST for the chicken coop is meant to keep any diseases spread by wild birds (like Avian Influenza) out of the chicken coop. Or it's meant for people who have extra-good reasons to keep all diseases out (like maybe someone working at a big commercial chicken farm, or producing eggs for hatcheries.) It's never been something I personally felt a need to do.

We plan to only have 2 or 3 hens in a 10' x 20' run. I'm just imagining days of old where people had free run chickens in their yards and went about their daily business on the homestead without changing shoes, etc. everytime they were around chickens.

In those days of old, I expect there were several ways of doing things:
--barefoot all the time (no shoes)
--just stay home
--shoes only for going to town, barefoot at home
--only owned one pair of shoes, wore them at home and to town
--nice shoes for town, work boots or older shoes at home

Choices would have been affected by climate (barefoot doesn't work as well in the snow), and by how hard it was for the person to get shoes (buy or make them.)

 

[Chickapee]

I have a parrot that lives in my house, so I have chicken clothes and chicken shoes. We don’t have much avian flu in the area, but I also won’t take chances with lice, mites, or other parasites either.

 

[Lil TexHens]

Yes, I have separate shoes to practice good bio security. I have shoes for warm weather and boots for cold weather that are ONLY for my chicken yard. My street shoes are never worn in my chicken yard or coop.

If I’m going to visit someone that has chickens, I will shower first and then put on fresh clothes just before going to their house. I also bring a pair of pre-bleached garden shoes to wear in their chicken yard. When I’m done the shoes are removed and placed in a disposable bag for the ride home. I use disinfecting wipes for my hands before getting in my truck. I have all this prepped ahead of time.

Once home, my clothes go immediately into the hamper and then I shower again. I put on the clothes that I wore at the beginning of the day. I will then bleach the garden shoes from my friend’s house. That way they are ready to go if I visit someone with chickens.

All that said, I do limit my visits to others’ chicken yards and coops. It might seem like a lot of extra work, but it really isn’t. It’s just having a routine and being prepped ahead of time. I just don’t want to give anything to someone else’s chickens and nor do I want to bring anything home to mine.

 

[Penpal]

I have washable crocks for my outside shoes. I may not track in chicken poop, but there is all kinds of stuff I wold prefer to keep out of my house. It also means I don't have to worry about what I have walked in when I leave the house.

As for biosecurity, duck feet take protozoa and all kids of things from one body of water to another. The algae, etc, dry on their feet while in flight, much of it survives in a dry state.