Healthy Poultry
How to keep backyard poultry healthy
Keeping your poultry healthy helps to keep you and your family healthy. To learn how to stay healthy around backyard poultry, visit the Healthy People section.
Prepare for your backyard poultry
Check your state and local laws before selecting or buying baby chicks, adult poultry (hens, roosters), or waterfowl. Many cities have rules against owning roosters because their crowing violates noise ordinances. Hens will lay eggs without a rooster.
Find out if there is a local veterinarian who has experience with poultry to help you keep your poultry healthy.
Learn what types of poultry are suitable for your family. Though most poultry are quite gentle, some breeds are more aggressive and may be more likely to bite or scratch you.
Learn how to properly care for your poultry before you buy them. Ask your veterinarian or local cooperative extension agent about the best food, care, and enclosure or environment for the poultry you are selecting.
Build a coop for your poultry outside your home. Backyard poultry need a sturdy environment to protect them from organisms that spread disease such as insects and rodents and provide shelter from the weather and predators. The coop should be easy to clean.
Set up an area outdoors to clean and disinfect all equipment used to care for the poultry and clean their enclosure. Do not clean any items indoors, where the germs could contaminate your home.
Poultry can shed germs in their droppings (poop). Wear gloves when cleaning bird cages and poultry houses. Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after contact with the poultry or their environment.
How to choose and introduce poultry
Buy backyard poultry from hatcheries that participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Poultry Improvement Plan (USDA-NPIP)external icon. This program is intended to reduce Salmonella in baby poultry in the hatchery, which can help prevent the spread of illness from poultry to people.
Pick poultry that are bright, alert, and active. Poultry should have smooth, sleek, and soft feathers that are free of debris or droppings. Poultry that seem sluggish, aren’t moving around very much, or look dirty may be ill.
When bringing new poultry to an existing flock:
Keep new poultry separated for at least 30 days before they are introduced to your other poultry. This will help prevent the new poultry from passing disease to your flock. Remember that poultry can appear healthy and clean, but still spread harmful germs that make people sick.
Clean your hands, shoes, clothing, and equipment when moving between the two groups of poultry during this period of separation. For example, you can dedicate separate pairs of gloves, coveralls, and boots to each group, and you should wash your hands or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer when you go between the two groups.
Always take care of your existing flock before caring for your new poultry.
Contact your veterinarian or local extension agent if you notice any signs of illness in your poultry. Sick poultry can:
Be less active than normal
Eat or drink less than normal
Have ruffled feathers, discharge from the eyes or nose, difficulty breathing, or runny diarrhea
Produce fewer eggs than normal
Produce discolored, irregular, or misshapen eggs
Die unexpectedly of no apparent cause
Your veterinarian or local extension agent can work with you to determine the cause of the illness and help ensure that it does not spread to the rest of the poultry.
Importing poultry into the United States
USDA regulates the importation of poultry and poultry hatching eggs. USDA restricts the importation of poultry and poultry hatching eggs from countries with reported cases of avian influenza.
People interested in importing poultry or poultry hatching eggs should visit the USDA live animal importation websiteexternal icon.
How to house backyard poultry
Don’t allow poultry or waterfowl inside your home for any reason, including areas where food or drink is prepared, served, or stored, such as kitchens or outdoor patios.
Provide your backyard poultry with a safe, sturdy environment outdoors, with housing areas and feeders/waterers that can be easily cleaned and disinfected. Poultry can be kept warm outdoors in the winter in a draft-free shelter or by using a safe heating source.
Set aside a pair of shoes to wear while taking care of poultry and keep those shoes outside of the house.
How to clean poultry cages and coops
Use a diluted bleach solution or another disinfectant to clean and disinfect surfaces that have come in contact with poultry.
Clean poultry enclosures or cages with bottled dish soap and a commercial disinfectant made for this purpose. When using disinfectants, follow the label instructions for diluting the disinfectant and for how long to leave it on the surface before wiping or rinsing it off.
Go outside to clean any equipment or materials used to raise or care for live poultry, such as cages or feed or water containers. Don’t clean these items inside the house. This could bring harmful germs into your home.
Tips for cleaning poultry cages or enclosures:
First, remove debris (manure, broken egg material, droppings, dirt) by wiping the equipment with a brush soaked in warm water and soap.
Once most of the debris is removed and the surface is generally clean, then apply the disinfectant. Dilute the disinfectant properly according to label directions before applying it. Most disinfectants only work on clean surfaces and don’t work if they are applied directly to a dirty surface.
Leave the disinfectant on the surface for the amount of time listed on the label (usually anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes). Then rinse and allow the surface to dry before reuse.
Monitor your poultry’s health
Use a diluted bleach solution or another disinfectant to clean and disinfect surfaces that have come in contact with poultry.
Clean poultry enclosures or cages with bottled dish soap and a commercial disinfectant made for this purpose. When using disinfectants, follow the label instructions for diluting the disinfectant and for how long to leave it on the surface before wiping or rinsing it off.
Go outside to clean any equipment or materials used to raise or care for live poultry, such as cages or feed or water containers. Don’t clean these items inside the house. This could bring harmful germs into your home.
Tips for cleaning poultry cages or enclosures:
First, remove debris (manure, broken egg material, droppings, dirt) by wiping the equipment with a brush soaked in warm water and soap.
Once most of the debris is removed and the surface is generally clean, then apply the disinfectant. Dilute the disinfectant properly according to label directions before applying it. Most disinfectants only work on clean surfaces and don’t work if they are applied directly to a dirty surface.
Leave the disinfectant on the surface for the amount of time listed on the label (usually anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes). Then rinse and allow the surface to dry before reuse.
Monitor your poultry’s health
Work closely with a veterinarian or local extension agent who has experience with poultry for routine evaluation and care to keep your flock healthy and prevent diseases.
If you aren’t sure if your veterinarian treats poultry, call ahead to ask. If they do not see poultry, they can refer you to a qualified veterinarian in your area that does.
Keep coops and enclosures clean to prevent the build-up of animal droppings. These droppings could attract insects, rodents, and wildlife that carry disease.
When you clean droppings and cages, wear work or utility gloves. Don’t pick up droppings with your bare hands and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.
If your poultry become sick or die soon after purchase, inform the feed store or hatchery. Also, contact your veterinarian or local cooperative extension agent to investigate the cause of death. Consider waiting at least 30 days before replacing the poultry. Don’t reuse the enclosure until it has been properly cleaned and disinfected.
A healthy bird can still spread germs to people and other animals. If you become sick shortly after buying or adopting a bird, tell your health care provider about your new animal and other animals that live in your household.
Practice biosecurity
Biosecurityexternal icon is the key to keeping your poultry healthy. Practicing good biosecurity reduces the chance of your poultry or your yard being exposed to diseases like avian influenza or Newcastle disease. These diseases can be spread by people, animals, equipment, or vehicles, either accidentally or on purpose.
The following steps are important in keeping your poultry healthy and having good biosecurity practices:
Keep your distance — Isolate your birds from visitors and other birds.
Keep it clean — Prevent germs from spreading by cleaning shoes, tools, and equipment.
Don’t haul disease home — Also clean vehicles and cages.
Don’t borrow disease from your neighbor — Avoid sharing tools and equipment with neighbors.
Know the warning signs of infectious bird diseases — Watch for early signs to prevent the spread of disease.
Information provided by the CDC