Baby chicks and salmonella- question

[eponagirl]

I agree with everyone else's response. We feed our dogs a raw diet and give them raw bones to chew on too. Our dogs start their bones on towels and when they are "cleaned off" carry them around the house. Gross, but it doesn't seem like a big dealto us anymore...we clean often. We may be totally immune to salmonella at this point!

I'd be comfortable with the "Common sense hand washing is the best thing", especially with young children. If there was a serious issue with it, wouldn't there be alot of posts on BYC about it?

 

[welovechickens]

I always wash my hands after handling my chickens, but that's usually because I end up with poo on my hands because they like standing in my hands, and have dirty feet. LOL

As for dogs, they eat stuff I won't even mention. I would think chicken poo is tame stuff for them!

It's just common sense to wash hands after being outside and/or playing with animals, but not a cause for panic if hands don't get washed 100% of the time.

I have to add, I don't hold chickens up to my face. I've actually been pecked in the eye by one several years ago, so I'm careful about keeping them away from my face. My opthamologist told me he'd seen people lose an eye from a peck - thankfully all I got was a huge blood spot on the white of my eye that lasted a couple weeks!

 

[gottsegnet]

I always find these concerns a little amusing. Sure hygiene is important and salmonella is not anything to brush off without considering.

But 100 years ago almost everyone had chickens, even in the city, and I think most people survived.

 

[taffers]

Love this thread! I was going to start one about salmonella because we just got our chicks on Thursday, and of course, since we live in the suburbs and all our friends think we're looney bins for having chickens, people love to bring up the salmonella risk. I wasn't worried AT ALL (I'm just about the furthest thing from a germaphobe), but a bit of worry crept in. This thread makes me feel much better!

I do have my 2.5 and 4.5 year old use anti-bacterial after holding the chicks, but I know we've forgotten a few times.