Salmonella outbreak at Mt. Healthy hatchery (where we got our chicks)

[kagedgoddess]

I am following this story too. The latest article i read stated that yes it is from mt healthy and that its affecting 8 states because they sell chicks and ducklings to "a nationwide retailer" meaning tsc. It affects chicks purchased from febuary till may, meaning probably they havent tested junes yet. My concern is that to sell chicks Into virginia, where i live you are supposed to be npip and samonella/pullerum free. I Thought. How come mt healthy amd tsc didnt have to follow this? My worry is that i have tsc chicks that i am raising up for sale. Lots of ppl want laying hens and dont want to raise babies, so i do it for them, sell them at laying age and at least i know they had a wonderful free ranging childhood unlike the grown pullets you would order from the co op here. Anyways what am i supposed to tell my customers? Do i need to test them now? I am upfront with where my pullets come from either my flock, hatchery or tsc. I want to be able to reassure my customers. All i can tell them is wash wAsh wash. And then what xoes this mean for the EGGS??? Are they now going to be contaminated with samonella? Or the meat??? I can tell you i wont ever buy from tsc again. This year was to be my last using hatcherys anyways, but i planned to still use tsc for pullets if my eggs hatched too many roos. : ( guess not now.

 

[cmoore3503]

Salmonella in poultry is nothing new. People get sick yearly from it. The following statements are from the CDC website:

It's common for chickens, ducks, and other poultry to carry Salmonella, which is a type of germ that naturally lives in the intestines of poultry and many other animals and is shed in their droppings or feces. Even organically fed poultry can have Salmonella. While it usually doesn't make the birds sick, Salmonella can cause serious illness when it is passed to people. People become infected with Salmonella when they put their hands or other things that have been in contact with feces in or around their mouth.

So folks, it is just common sense these are not household pets they are unsanitary farm animals and you should wash your hands. What’s has our world come to when you expect a hatchery or a feed store to be responsible for us not washing our hands???



http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SalmonellaPoultry/

 

[jcatblum]

I too have chicks from them. Mine are 5-25-11 hatch. They are npip according to the papers that came with my chicks. Don't think I still have the papers. Only lost 2 chicks out of 151. I will make sure dishes are cleaned & bedding is burned instead of composted (not sure if it will help, but it can't hurt). Will do more reading up on the spread now & see what else I can find

 

[nuttyredhead]

Silly question...if the chickens came from this hatchery, will there eggs be safe? Isn't salmonella something we all as chicken owners need to be careful for?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
There are thousands of different varieties of salmonella. The basic NPIP program tests for s. pullorum and s. gallinarum. These two serotypes greatly affect flock health but don't affect humans. The NPIP program was originally put in place to screen for these and to protect nationwide flock health.

The variety that caused the big egg recall last year was s. enteritidis. This one greatly affects humans, but not necessarily the birds. This is part of the NPIP program at an extra cost to the buyer.

As the articles said this was a relatively rare serotype, so it may not be screened for or picked up on the other tests. It obviously affects humans, but it will take a little more research to determine the answer to the OP's question, whether it also affects the birds' health.

 

[Zonoma]

Quote:
I don't think it's a silly question. I've been trying to find an answer for a few days now. Anybody?

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
I wash my hands after handling my pets, don't you?

 

[SlowMoneyFarm]

Quote:
I don't think it's a silly question. I've been trying to find an answer for a few days now. Anybody?

The idea that backyard eggs cannot (do not) have salmonella is dangerous. Just because we don't test for it doesn't mean it isn't there. There are thousands of types of salmonella - just a few cause issues and just a very small number are tested for in NPIP testing. It's more widespread because TSC stores distributed (and others) chicks. If we all have to test for everything how many can afford that?

 

[nuttyredhead]

Quote:
I don't think it's a silly question. I've been trying to find an answer for a few days now. Anybody?

The idea that backyard eggs cannot (do not) have salmonella is dangerous. Just because we don't test for it doesn't mean it isn't there. There are thousands of types of salmonella - just a few cause issues and just a very small number are tested for in NPIP testing. It's more widespread because TSC stores distributed (and others) chicks. If we all have to test for everything how many can afford that?

Ok so this is where washing our hands (normal procedures) and thorough cooking of eggs comes in, correct?

 

[Arielle]

Ok so this is where washing our hands (normal procedures) and thorough cooking of eggs comes in, correct?

X2

Seriously, salmonella is always a risk and why cooking eggs and egg products is strongly recommended. Here in Massachusetts we had an unfortunate outbreak when a bakery didn't handle the frosting or filling for pasteries properly. It was left out over night, as I remember the news report, and a huge number of people were sickened. Because commercial sales can result in a high number of people affected, higher than just feeding ones own family, management methods are more stringent.

We all play a part in our well being when it comes to our health. I wash my hands more than 10x a day; now, if only I could get my kids to do the same . . .