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This idea of contamination from wild birds seems to be overblown. As anyone who keeps chickens knows, you can’t keep wild birds (sparrows particularly) from entering your henhouse. My chickens are free ranging and the sparrows fly in through the chicken door to the henhouse and then sometimes in a panic forget how to leave. I think this idea of eliminating ALL bird feeders was a panic reaction – there is a balance in all things – especially in dealing with nature.

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I have never contradicted the issue that you may not want your chickens to have access to the areas around wild bird feeders. I think EVERYONE can agree with that. To you that translates to not having any feeders at all. And that is fine for you or anyone else that feels this will make their chickens safer from certain diseases or infections.

But don’t spread the misinformation that it is irresponsible to feed wild birds if you have chickens or that you can reduce wild birds just by removing feeders. It just isn’t true and that is my problem with your article. You can feed wild birds, if you restrict access to the areas around the feeder and keep your wild bird feeders clean. As stated by Cornell, birds congregate in groups with or WITHOUT a feeder. Cornell, and myself included, cannot find any studies that confirm diseases are spread more at the feeder than in the wild. The article from the Wildcare of Bay Area is making the assumption that these birds only congregate in large numbers at feeders and this is where the diseases are contracted. I strongly disagree and want to point out that I can only assume that is their opinion because they don’t refer to any studies or research.

I have wild blackberries, many fruit trees growing, as well as many wild grasses that attract many birds. They attract even MORE birds than my feeders because not all birds eat seed. I also have a barn where swallows congregate in very large groups. If we continue along your lines of thinking, then we should house our chickens in cages where they have practically no chance of contact with wild birds at all. And that includes a roof to prevent flyover droppings as you referred. We should also remove any bushes, flowers or trees that encourage wild birds to congregate in significant numbers.

As you stated on your facebook page, having a farm or even a large yard is one thing but having a small backyard is another. So basically your information is geared toward someone keeping chickens in an urban/suburban setting with a small backyard where the chickens would be near the feeder(s).

None of these things were addressed in your article. Most people reading it are going to assume they should give up feeding wild birds or any wildlife for that matter. I’m afraid you’ve glossed over the real issue here. Which is keeping any areas your chickens have access to where there is any concentration of animal droppings (including their own) should be avoided. In other words, clean up after your pets or restrict access. But that is an entirely different article, one I wish you would have written instead. ~Shannon

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And lastly this statement from Wildcare of Bay Area (http://www.wildcarebayarea.org) should be considered (Jan 08 2013 article):

A number of local bird rescue groups are reporting an outbreak of salmonella among pine siskins, small songbirds that are common at Bay Area bird feeders this time of year.

Wildcare of Marin sent dead birds to a lab for testing and confirmed that they died of salmonella. “The disease Salmonellosis is a common cause of disease and death in wild birds,” said the organization in a statement. “Bird feeders bring large numbers of birds into close contact with each other, which means diseases can spread quickly through multiple populations. Salmonella bacteria is primarily transmitted through contact with fecal matter, so birds at a crowded feeder are much more likely to be exposed than birds in a wild setting.”

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Thank you for getting that information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I’m not sure that it contradicts anything I’ve stated. In fact it’s the statement:

“There is no question that the area under a bird feeder can be a dangerous place, as any area covered with the droppings of any animal would be (such as the ground under where your chickens are foraging). To a lesser extent, bird feeders themselves can also be dangerous, especially if they are not cleaned frequently.”

that makes me stand by my statement that I will not be having any bird feeders in our yard as long as we have backyard chickens.

Wendy

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I received feedback from the Cornell Lab of ornithology. It is copied exactly from the email I received.

“It is an interesting article with some truth and some misinformation. You are wise to be skeptical of anyone making strong claims with no data to back them up. Research has shown that disease is transmitted at bird feeders. However, as far as I know, there’s no research to indicate that there’s any difference between the transmission of disease at feeders and the transmission of disease in the wild. The species most frequently found with Salmonella at feeders are the same species that flock tightly together away from feeders, such as Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins.

When I first saw your subject line, I thought you were concerned about disease transmission the opposite way. There is evidence that the eye disease that wiped out a substantial portion of the House Finch population, and continues to kill House Finches as well as some individuals of other species, came from chickens, where the bacteria was prevalent before jumping to House Finches in 1994.

There is no question that the area under a bird feeder can be a dangerous place, as any area covered with the droppings of any animal would be (such as the ground under where your chickens are foraging). To a lesser extent, bird feeders themselves can also be dangerous, especially if they are not cleaned frequently. The eye disease in particular is highly contagious at feeders with ports large enough for birds to put heads inside, as their eyes leave bacteria on the ports. The Cornell Lab strongly encourages people to discontinue bird feeding if any sign of disease is present and to clean feeders every couple of weeks.

If you wish to continue feeding chickens and wild birds, you could prevent the chickens from foraging beneath the feeders. It would be much more difficult to keep wild birds away from the chickens, however, especially if you are supplementing their diet with grains. Even if you discontinue bird feeding, wild birds will feed on the grains provided to the chickens unless you cage the chickens with a barrier that birds cannot get through.”

Anne Marie Johnson
Project Assistant

Project FeederWatch
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
http://feederwatch.org
(607) 254-2416

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I second the excellent points Dana made and add another: Wild birds help teach free-ranging chickens about predators and provide an early warning system in case of attack. Domestication has bred much of the instinctive wariness out of poultry, and the way we usually raise them from hatchlings away from adults of their own kind keeps them from learning “street-smarts” in a natural way. Small backyard flocks, with fewer pairs of eyes and no guardian roosters, increase the risk. I credit the doves, finches, sparrows, and quail that frequent my feeders for the fact that I have yet to lose a hen to a hawk.

Wendy’s point about unnatural accumulations of pathogens around feeders is a good one, but fencing your poultry out of the feeder area is a reasonable precaution (along with vaccination, worming, sound nutrition, and good coop/run maintenance).

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I won’t do it! I believe what Dana said and that I don’t need to ENCOURAGE the pest any more than they are there naturally.

thanks for the heads-up!

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I don’t have bird feeders in my garden. This post confirms my thoughts that encouraging wild birds into my garden puts my hens at more risk of exposure to other bird’s ailments, in the very least, lice!

No thanks!

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I don’t have bird feeders around, but plant all kinds of hummingbird flowers, seedy plants etc for the birds. I decided years ago that having a bird feeder was not good for me because it attracts vermin (had a rate eat bird seed dropped from the feeder just a few feet from our kitchen window). So I find plants that do double duty for bird, butterflies, good bugs, etc. For instance, the finches LOVE alyssum that’s gone to seed – look’s ratty for a few weeks, but that’s the price I pay for feeding wildlife naturally.

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Even the US Gov Biosecurity guidelines suggest that you keep wild birds away from your chickens. (this was posted by a reader on the Facebook page)

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/birdbiosecurity/biosecurity/basicsprotect.htm

There is nothing you can do about wild bird flyover but by not having feeders, you are limiting your flock’s exposure.

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The point I am making is simply by having chickens you are attracting birds. Birds eat a lot of things chickens leave behind. Not just feed. There is no difference really. You may as well cut down your trees. Natural or unnatural, the wild birds are in my yard and nothing can be done about it. How you keep your chickens healthy is more important than feeding or not feeding the wild population, who btw, will also benefit from a treated water supply. They drank my water treated for cocci and the population did not change. You worm horses because birds love horse feed. They drop the offending pathogen and the horse picks it up. The don’t get it any other way. Even if they pick it up in soil, a bird dropped it. So you treat the horse for worms with Ivermectin or an alternative. Same with a flock. Preventive maintenance is the key. And I would think that if you did use a feeder, you wouldn’t want it with or near where your birds would go picking in the first place. Or simply not have a feeder. I have one up at the house. We filled it with some seed, but they ignored it so we quit. I have a lot of species, both local and transient, in my trees and the hedge. They were here many generations before I had chickens. That won’t change with a feeder. Most pathogens are manageable with basic maintenance practices and hand washing.

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The biggest thing that bothered me about this article was that the author made no attempt whatsoever to research the claims made by her vet. It seemed to me this is the information she wanted to hear and ran with it.

If you are going to write an article, do your homework. Do your research. Don’t just regurgitate what one person told you but couldn’t back up with facts.

I have sent the Cornell Lab of Ornithology an email with a link to this article. I am sure they can answer my questions and back up their answers with facts that I will then research myself. I certainly pay more attention to articles put out by this blog. My faith in their “experts” is certainly tainted.

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The point is that feeders create an “unnatural” accumulation of potentially dangerous excrement. By having feeders, you can then spread pathogens from bird to bird creating a large infected community.

I understand that many people are very protective of their feeders but it makes sense that you are just asking for trouble if you keep them in a yard with chickens.

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I agree with Dana. We don’t live in a micro system and to try to do so goes against “getting back to nature and connecting with your food” There’s dirt, bugs, poop, and germs on our food. Well, at least real food from gardens. Get over it. Wash your produce, rinse your eggs. Done.

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There is NO WAY to prevent flyovers or wild bird populations in your environment and I would not bother to do so. I can either put the food in a feeder, or put the food in the coop, no difference. The wild birds access the pens no matter what. They were here first. Not just in the evolutionary sense, in the very literal they were here before I had chickens snese. I am not running off a happy flock of birds wild or otherwise. It’s a better idea to say, in my opinion that if you are going to keep anything that lives, eats and breathes it is going to poop. It is going to attract all sorts of other living things, and while bio security is a nice thought, it is impractical to many for the wild factor alone. Production farms have little control over the wild bird populations and by law cannot negatively effect them in the name of money or large production farms.
Vaccinate for Mareks etc. Treat your soil with products for eliminating pathogens from said soil. They are found at farm supply stores and eliminate parvo as well as many other things. Treat with wormer, and treat for oocytes = coccidiosos. DE is a wonderful thing in a coop as well as keeping your coops clean and dry. You will never stop the wild things from coming to your flocks and free rangers are well aware of this. Proper flock management and maintenance is exactly the correct way of managing disease. Managing the wildlife is not only a waste of time, it is the wrong approach. This is a shared space, our world, and if you think it’s not natural for large flocks of many species of birds to congregate in the US, or in places where people are common, is total nonsense. What do you think is going on around you? Over your head? In your environment? Keeping chickens is the un natural part of the equation, not the wild population itself. Vaccinate! Worm! Treat the soil! Keep your environment generally clean and if you choose not to feed the wild birds fine. You are not stopping anything by doing so. They are a part of our environment and our world. They are not the enemy.