Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Backyard Poultry

Backyard Poultry and Salmonella

Backyard poultry, like chickens and ducks, can carry Salmonella  germs even if they look healthy and clean. These germs can easily spread to anything in the areas where the poultry live and roam.

What you should do

• Wash your hands
  • Always wash your hands with soap and water immediately after touching backyard poultry, their eggs, or anything in the area where they live and roam.
  • Use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available. If you take care of backyard poultry, consider keeping hand sanitizer at the coop.
• Be safe around backyard flocks
  • Don’t kiss or snuggle backyard poultry, and don’t eat or drink around them. They can carry Salmonella germs that can spread to your mouth and make you sick.
  • Keep your backyard flock and the supplies you use to care for them (like feed containers and shoes you wear in the coop) outside of the house. You should also clean the supplies outside the house.
• Supervise kids around flocks
  • Always supervise children around backyard poultry and make sure they wash their hands properly afterward.
  • Children younger than 5 years old shouldn't handle chicks, ducklings, or other backyard poultry or spend time in areas where these animals live and roam. Young children are more likely to get sick from germs like Salmonella.
• Handle eggs safely
  • Collect eggs often. Eggs that sit in the nest can become dirty or break.
  • Throw away cracked eggs. Germs on the shell can more easily enter the egg through a cracked shell.
  • Eggs with dirt and debris can be cleaned carefully with fine sandpaper, a brush, or a cloth. Don't wash eggs because cold water can pull germs into the egg.
  • Refrigerate eggs to keep them fresh and slow the growth of germs.

What Stores Selling Backyard Poultry Should Do

• Source poultry from hatcheries that take steps to reduce Salmonella contamination.
  • These hatcheries include those that have adopted the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) best management practices to mitigate Salmonella contamination and those that voluntarily participate in the USDA National Poultry Improvement Plan (USDA-NPIP) U.S. Salmonella Monitored Program.

• Clean and sanitize poultry display areas between shipments of new poultry.
  • Be sure to remove dirt by cleaning first. Then apply disinfectant on the surface for the proper contact time recommended on the disinfectant label.

• Help keep your customers healthy.
  • Provide handwashing stations or hand sanitizers next to poultry display areas and tell customers to wash hands right after leaving these areas.
  • Display poultry out of reach of customers, especially children, so they cannot easily touch the poultry.
  • Provide health information to owners and potential buyers of poultry before purchase. This informational poster describes ways to stay healthy with backyard flocks. Consider placing it in flock display areas and handing it to customers.

• Learn more about how to protect your customers and employees from Salmonella and other diseases shared between animals and humans.
  • Read the Compendium of Measures to Prevent Zoonotic Diseases Associated with Non-Traditional Pets.

What Poultry Hatcheries Should Do

• Use best management practices to help prevent Salmonella in poultry.

• Participate in the voluntary USDA-NPIP U.S. Salmonella Monitored Program and certify that your flocks are monitored for Salmonella germs.

• Provide health information to owners and potential buyers of poultry before purchase. This informational poster describes ways to stay healthy with backyard flocks. This graphic can be printed as a sticker and placed on poultry shipping boxes.

See also

• CDC Coops Videos

• Healthy Pets, Healthy People: Backyard Poultry

• Salmonella and Eggs