{"id":257,"date":"2026-05-04T15:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/?p=257"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:55:18","slug":"best-practices-for-backyard-poultry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/best-practices-for-backyard-poultry\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices for Backyard Poultry"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-187\" style=\"width:471px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick-1568x1176.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/files\/2022\/04\/Chick.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Keep baby poultry in a garage or basement<\/strong>, if possible.<em> Salmonella <\/em>can survive in fluff and dust and contaminate surfaces, leading to illness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Wash poultry water and feed dishes in a utility sink, if possible. <\/strong>If you do not have a utility sink, a bathtub is the next best option (particularly if you don&#8217;t have small children). If you do not have a bathtub, a bathroom sink is better than a kitchen sink, as there is less risk of feces contaminating dishes or contaminating vegetables. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>If you have small children, keep baby poultry in a room with a door you can lock to control access. <\/strong>Small children love baby poultry and have very poor hand hygiene as well as developing immune systems that make them more likely to get very sick from <em>Salmonella<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Adult poultry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Avoid mixing poultry species<\/strong> (for instance, turkeys and chickens) or types of poultry (meat and layer chickens), as this increases the risk of <em>Salmonella<\/em> in your flock. If you have multiple poultry species or types, keep them separate and avoid transferring dishes or equipment between flocks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Try an &#8220;all in, all out&#8221; approach<\/strong> to managing your flock. Flocks of mixed ages increases the risk of finding <em>Salmonella <\/em>or <em>Campylobacter.<\/em> If possible, it&#8217;s best to replace your entire flock at once and clean your coop in between old and new flocks. If you do bring in new birds to an existing flock, quarantining them for at least a month away from your other flock and waiting until chicks are fully grown before introducing them to older birds will potentially reduce risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sources: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patch et al., 2025: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Human Health Implications of\u00a0<em>Salmonella enterica<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Campylobacter<\/em>\u00a0spp. in Vermont Backyard Poultry <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/zph.70004\">https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/zph.70004<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behravesh et al. 2014, Backyard Poultry Flocks and Salmonellosis: A Recurring, Yet Preventable Public Health<br \/>Challenge <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/article\/58\/10\/1432\/286842\">https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/article\/58\/10\/1432\/286842<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adult poultry: Sources: Patch et al., 2025: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Human Health Implications of\u00a0Salmonella enterica\u00a0and\u00a0Campylobacter\u00a0spp. in Vermont Backyard Poultry https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/zph.70004 Behravesh et al. 2014, Backyard Poultry Flocks and Salmonellosis: A Recurring, Yet Preventable Public HealthChallenge https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/article\/58\/10\/1432\/286842<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6700,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"aetter","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/author\/aetter\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6700"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}