Keep Backyard Flocks Salmonella-free

Courtesy Stock.XCHANG/ Robert Mich

Keep your backyard flock free from salmonella by taking biosecurity precautions.

The caged chicken versus free-range chicken debate seems to rage on even in light of the more than 500 million eggs recalled in recent weeks.

Most in the egg industry still insist that raising hens in battery cages is actually better for the hen and the safety of the egg. Just this year, the United Egg Producers, a leading U.S. egg industry trade group announced that caging hens is better for food safety.

The U.K. egg industry takes the completely opposite stance. In the past five years, nine studies have been completed throughout the U.K., all of which indicate that egg operations with caged hens have higher incidences of salmonella. These studies were so convincing that the U.K. has enacted legislation making it illegal to cage hens anywhere in the U.K. beginning in 2012.

Even though U.S. studies seem to contradict those in the U.K., the U.S. stance that caged eggs are safe is starting to crack. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed state legislation to ban caged hens by 2015, and many food sellers, such as Wal-Mart, Safeway, Burger King, Wendy’s and Subway, have committed to decrease the number of caged-hen eggs purchased.

Do I have to worry about salmonella in my backyard flock?

Does this let the backyard farmer who free-ranges hens off the hook? Not hardly. All the studies in the U.S. and the U.K. found many other influences that increased the incidence of salmonella besides keeping the birds in cages. Darrell Trampel, DVM, a veterinarian and poultry expert at Iowa State University, says there are recorded cases of salmonella in all sizes and types of flocks, including those that are raised organically and free-range. It’s important, even in the backyard flock, to protect your family by taking steps to reduce your chances of salmonella infection.

Backyard Biosecurity

Salmonella is transmitted among chickens through contact with fecal matter from infected birds or other animals. It’s often carried from flock to flock on the clothes and shoes of backyard visitors and the people who care for the chickens. It’s important to restrict visitors to your backyards flock to limit the chickens’ potential for exposure. Coop walks are a great way to raise funds for local poultry groups, but they also put your chickens at risk for salmonella and other chicken diseases. If you participate in a walk where a lot of people will be in contact with your chickens or equipment, prevent chicken diseases by taking biosecurity measures, such as using disinfectant foot baths and restricting visitor contact with your flock. 

Rodent Control

Salmonella is usually spread by mice and other rodents. It’s important to keep the chicken feed in a sealed container. If hens feed outside, bring food in at night and store it in rodent-proof areas. Keep the coops in good condition and well-ventilated with tight construction to prevent mice from entering. Also eliminate weeds and piled debris that attract rodents in the chicken yard.

Clean Coops

Remove manure and damp litter as it accumulates in the coop. Clean waterers weekly and feeders regularly. Hang the feeders and waters high enough to prevent the chickens from defecating or digging dirt into the containers. Clean and disinfect any used equipment immediately upon purchase, even if you aren’t going to use it for a while.

Vaccinate Your Flock

In the U.S., vaccines are sold in doses of thousands to accommodate the factory farm, which can make it tough for the small-flock farmer. Bud Wood, from Murray McMurray Hatchery, talks about the dilemma facing the small poultry farmer.

“To be fully covered for salmonella, the birds need to be vaccinated multiple times. We could vaccinate them once here at the hatchery, but the customer would need to vaccinate them again twice more,” he says. “The biggest problem is we can only get the vaccine in 5,000- or 10,000-dose units, and it needs to be used within hours of opening.”

Watch for updates in this area, and encourage veterinarians and legislators to make small quantities of the salmonella vaccine available to urban farmers.

Good Egg Hygiene

According to Gail Damerow, author of Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, the first line of defense in keeping eggs safe to eat is to keep nests clean and lined with fresh litter. Eggs should be collected often and stored immediately after collection at 45 degrees F. Eggs that are seriously soiled, cracked or leaking should be discarded.

To be completely safe, eggs should be completely cooked with a solid yolk and firm white. For more information about egg handling, visit the Egg Safety Center and FoodSafety.gov websites.

Courtesy Diana Jain

Nicole Capizzi runs a CSA from her 1/2-acre urban farm in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood. 

Anyone who’s secretly been keeping more than three chickens in Seattle is no longer breaking the law, thanks to new legislation that updates the city’s land-use codes on urban agriculture. But it’s ixnay for the roosters.

The urban-farming legislation was passed as part of Seattle’s push to make 2010 “the year of urban agriculture.” And according to Seattle.gov, the changes were a key component of the “campaign to promote urban agriculture efforts and increase community access to locally grown food.”

“We’ve been working on legislation relating to promoting local food for the last two years, and one of the things we really wanted to do was give people the option to grow food in Seattle,” says Richard Conlin, president of the Seattle City Council and sponsor of the urban-farming bill. “This creates urban farm land use legislation.”

Specifically, the updated legislation—which was passed by a unanimous vote of the Seattle City Council on Aug. 16, 2010—increases the allotted number of chickens per lot from three to eight. It states that coops need to be placed at least 10 feet away from primary residence structures (existing coops will be grandfathered in) and outlaws keeping roosters.

“I am still hesitant to take away an option that currently exists,” Conlin wrote in an email about roosters to council members. “But I agree that this is a nuisance issue we can avoid without compromising our larger goals.” Like chicken coops, existing Seattle roosters will be grandfathered in.

The Seattle legislation also allows for food to be grown in rooftop greenhouses that can extend 15 feet above height limits in certain zones, and it formally recognizes farmers’ markets as retail sellers.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the updated codes states that urban farms of up to 4,000 square feet are permitted within city limits. And food grown on these urban farms can be sold on site.

“I think Seattle is fantastic for pushing these issues and fighting to make them a priority. I’m very proud of my city,” says Nicole Jain Capizzi, who recently returned to Seattle from Milwaukee to start a 1/2-acre urban farm in the city’s Rainier Beach neighborhood. She raises Honey bees and grows a mix of vegetables and flowers for sale through her community-supported agriculture program and to a handful of local restaurants.

Keeping Honey bees had never been an issue for Capizzi (Seattle already had apiary legislation), but growing food on a residentially zoned lot for the purpose of selling it had. Because urban farming was always widely accepted in Seattle—even though it wasn’t technically legal—Capizzi says the legislation didn’t change what she planned to do on her farm, so much as how comfortable she felt advertising it.

“My marketing was really underground—by word of mouth. I didn’t want to make it very public because it wasn’t legal yet,” she says. “But I’m really happy I can now look for customers a little more widely and share what I’m doing and let others use it as an example and an inspiration.”

With full support from the city council and minimal resistance from constituents (Conlin says he received only about 60 emails in opposition to the legislation), Seattle’s farming culture will surely inspire urban-farming communities around the country.

“We hope it sets a model for other cities,” Conlin says. “That cities will look at ours and say, ‘This makes sense, they’ve taken care of their contingencies and they know what they’re doing.'”