Dogs and Chicken Poop

[Amanda Jean Iverson]

Hello-

I have two spaniels who are adjusting to my chickens.  All is pretty good there, the main issue I am having is my dogs have become pretty obsessed with eating chicken poop. 

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue and any ways to deter this? I guess I could walk around and pick up the chicken poop, but it seems a little tedious. Looking for a creative solution! 

I should say eating poop is definitely a bad habit, I am less concerned about the gross factor and more concerned that my dog happens to have allergies and eating poop makes her have a reaction. 

Sincerely-

Amanda

[Deborah Niemann]

Unfortunately, this is a dog thing. Although parasites are species specific, so you don't have to worry about worms, chickens can have salmonella in their poop sometimes -- even healthy chickens -- and salmonella can make just about any critter sick, human, canine, etc. When my daughter was working on her PhD in bioanalytical chemistry and doing research on salmonella in bird poop, I got all excited and wanted to mail her some of our chicken poop to test it, and she told me that would be fruitless because even if they tested negative one day, they could be positive the next and vice versa. It's just always a possibility that you have to keep in mind. 

Deborah Niemann
author of Homegrown and Handmade (2011 and 2017)
Raising Goats Naturally (2013 and 2018)

Goats Giving Birth (2020)
visit me online at Thrifty Homesteader
815-358-2450 (central time zone)
815-341-1223 
"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver." -- Mahatma Ghandi

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