Farmers who keep their chickens outdoors may want to watch the weather. A study of chicken farms in the West found that high winds increased the prevalence of Campylobacter in outdoor flocks, a bacterial pathogen in poultry that is the largest single cause of foodborne illness in the U.S.
Researchers found that about 26% of individual chickens had the pathogen at the “open environment” farms in the study, which included organic and free-range chicken farms. High winds the week prior to sampling and the farms’ location in more intensive agricultural settings were linked to a greater prevalence of Campylobacter.
“Farmers need to be aware of the risk,” said co-lead author Olivia Smith, a recent Washington State University Ph.D. graduate in the School of Biological Sciences. “These environmental factors are influencing if the poultry are going to have foodborne pathogens, so farmers need to be aware of what’s around them. If there’s a lot of wind and if they’re in really agricultural areas, that’s a problem.”
To help reduce Campylobacter exposure, the researchers suggested farmers consider installing windbreaks and watch weather patterns, so they can bring chickens inside during periods of high winds that could be blowing the bacteria onto their farms from nearby fields and livestock areas.