Are chicks making me sick?

[prepperchickens]

Ever since we bought our first few chicks from Rural King approx a month ago, I've been having mild stomach discomfort and uh, mild diarrhea. This is highly unusual for me, I'm usually on the opposite end of the regularity spectrum. I have no fever that I've noticed but sometimes the cramps I get are pretty uncomfortable. It will go away for a couple days then pop up again. I handle my chickies a lot and clean their coop etc on a daily basis. I have a hard time resisting the urge to kiss and nuzzle them. I try to wash my hands religiously and avoid cross contamination. I would really like to bathe these birds, most of whom have lost most of their down and grown in their first feathers, because even though I change the bedding daily they still step in poop and accidentally poop on each other often times (I have lots of multi level perches in the brooder). I don't know if it's ok to bathe chicks but I'm sure it would help. But my question is has anyone here ever experienced stomach problems related to their chickens?

 

[TheRambler]

Its either an allergy to the poo/bedding dust, allergy to chicken dander, or your personal sanitation and hygiene in regards to handling them. Or a combination. Has anything else changed, have you started a new diet or eating something new or more of something?

 

[prepperchickens]

I haven't started anything new food wise or medication/vitamin wise besides adding b complex to the mix but I've noticed the cramps etc on days I skip the b complex as well, and so far it came in two separate waves kind of like a bug would. I thought maybe I infected myself twice. I'm a smoker and sometimes I'm sure I've handled them and then lit a cig before going to the kitchen to wash my hands, also I'm bad about "kissing" them (when I'm holding them I make a kiss sound and they kinda peck/kiss my lips, with parrots and wild baby rescue birds this has always been a way to bond and identify myself as "mom" in a way, kind like triggering the beak to beak feeding idea in their minds but I'm not sure if mother hens do that?) which I'm sure isn't a wise thing to do hygiene wise. But I figure if it was salmonella i would have a fever and be much sicker, so I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of just getting some mild stomach bug from their chickens, something a step below salmonella?

 

[Sid Post]

Hatchery chicks should NOT be kissed.

Smoking and not washing your hands will do it too.

Salmonella is not the only thing you can catch. Next time, have your doctor test a stool sample so you know how to medicate your chicks to treat whatever they have.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Don't bathe the chicks unless it is pasty butt, because it stresses them out and makes them less hardy from my experience.

Definitely don't kiss the chickens. OK do as I say and not as I do.

Sounds like you should make a call to your doc.

 

[eviemethugh]

The best way for your chickens to get clean is to give them some dust or sand in a big pile, they will take care of the rest.
I would also say, see if you can stay away from the chickens completely for a few days. That is the only way to eliminate them as a possibility to see if they are the cause.
One more thing: Google the deep bedding method, it will save you some time cleaning their house out. And allow "good critters" to microscopically stay in your bedding and fight bad microbes. It should smell like good earthy compost. You stir their litter every now and again then dump new shavings on top without taking out the old.

 

[prepperchickens]

Thanks so much everyone! Now I can tell my husband I'm not a hypochondriac. I will invest in some hand sanitizer so that I don't forget to wash my hands as easily (it's easy to mean to and forget between the garage and the kitchen).
As for keeping away from them, it would be nearly impossible as my husband works all day 5 days a week and I tend to them most of the day. I could go without handling them directly a few days but with the guinea keets that's kind of tough because I'm working hard to make sure they are tame guineas, so far they are actually more tame than the pullet even ( we handle all of them and the Amerucuana is the most skiddish, amazingly the guineas are most likely to hop onto your hand and most interactive/social with people for some odd reason) and although guineas don't carry as many diseases they're in the brooder with chickens so far from sterile. The past 2 days I've been ok again so I'm hoping I can build an immunity, my husband handles them daily too and washes his hands/showers waaaay less often (much to my chagrin) but has no problems.
Deep bedding, I will look into that. Changing the bedding everyday doesn't seem to do much except for the first few hours! Will deep bedding help keep flies away?
I'm thinking of starting a thread on how everyone keeps flies away because already we are having problems and these traps barely help.

 

[Eggcessive]

When I first got chicks and had them inside in a brooder, I had some severe abdominal cramps that I attributed to campylobacter from the chicks. It doesn't make the chicks sick, but having campylobacter in their gut bacteria can make humans pretty sick if we don't wash our hands after handling them. Just cleaning their food and water containers can cause it, so wash your hands or use the hand sanitizer.

 

[WthrLady]

Salmonella, e.coli, oh ya..... you need to make sure you wash wash wash wash. They live in their poo. Their dust is dander and poo dust. It gets everywhere!

After I clean the broader coop, I wash up, and then shower, and change clothes, EVERY TIME!

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Yes, you may have mild salmonella, or something else. I do kiss my chickens occasionally,and when I first got them, i would handle them and their eggs without washing my hands and I would even kiss their eggs. Somehow I never got sick, but I seriously don't recommend this (I have become a lot more sanitary, I didn't know better when I first got them). In fact, the only time i ever got salmonella was from undercooked chicken, not my chickens or even my turtles... It really depends on the person, and I do think you build a slight immunity over time, but a bad bug can do some damage. Some people will never get sick, some will. If you know you get sick, wash your hands. And just some advice, I recommend covering your face with something when cleaning bedding, like a dust mask or bandana. It might sound like paranoia, but you really don't want to breathe that stuff in, especially if you get sick easily.
As for flies, I've tried numerous things with not much success. The one year the fly population was pretty low, was the year the local hornets would visit my yard and eat all the flies. Go figure.