Chicken poop and children

[Beachykeen]

I am new to raising chickens so forgive me if this sounds a bit odd. I use a putty knife to scape the chicken poop off of the roost everyday. I then put the putty knife blade side down into the dirt all the way up to the hilt and leave it there till I need it the next day. My daughter friends thought they would use the same putty knife to split an apple in half to check for worms, no worm, so they ate the apple. I am worried sick. I told the parents and they don't think anything can go wrong but... I KNOW WHERE THAT THING HAS BEEN! Can someone tell me if I am worried for no reason??????

 

[welasharon]

Well it's too late now! Probably the worst thing would be a salmonella risk. I am sure they get just as much germ exposure from the dirt on their hands from not washing them first. I always figured it helped build immunity!

 

[Beachykeen]

True enough but dang

 

[Demosthine]

I'm with Sharon on this one. The kids that are allowed to play properly, as kids should play, are exposed to far worse germs on an everyday basis. The playgrounds at the schools are covered with more serious diseases than you'd ever care to know about. The sandboxes that they play in are a favor squatting spot for cats and dogs alike. And, of course, there are all the kids that wipe their noses or pick their noses and smear it on whatever surface is nearby.

There have been countless studies that point to routine exposure to germs and bacteria being a requirement for a child developing an excellent immune system. Likewise, preliminary data is indicating that an overuse of antibacterial hand sanitizer is causing more resilient diseases.

Me personally, I wouldn't be concerned with it. Like I said, a child playing in the backyard or on a playground will be exposed to far worse.

 

[welasharon]

I hate to admit this...but when we were young we dared our younger cousin to eat dog crap....he lived just fine. We however, we nearly beat to death! LOL

 

[tinamommy727]

I don;t think that you have to be worried at all. I know its not something that you want to make a habit out of doing. My daughters like to do there homework in the chicken coop with the chickens, so set up a study table in the coop. Sometimes they get chicky poop on there homework and have to redo it! I have three very healthy, onery girls. A little chicky poo never hurt anyone.

 

[nok13]

so, i ran a petting zoo for 10 years and for several years with my best friend, a doctor. she is now a kindergarten teacher (preferred children to diseases etc) but has a petting zoo of her own... so , this is our take:

salomanella of all the various sorts are not a 'little salamonella'... young children and those with immunity problems are at greater risk of life threatening problems from salomanella. also, there are various types. my youngest is a carrier. many infants and children and old poeple get hospitalized because of it...
coccidiosis is also a zoonoses that can be passed on to children.
toxoplasmosis from cats
chlymidias and mycoplasmas of various sorts .. my girlfriend suffered from psiticossis (a lung disease) at one point, not identified by doctors until she insisted because she worked with large parrots, that they should check for that... asperigillus, an other lung disease...

the fact is, that exposure to organisms in our surroundings hardens our immune system to those organisms that are local to us. they do not harden us to organisms from other areas
while i drank straight from our goats' teats, the amount of diseases you can get is mind boggling (not including TB, brucellosis etc.) and every country/area has its own 'bad guys' (here brucellosis is found in many beduin herds as they dont tend to vaccinate even thought the vaccination program is free, for rabies brucellosis and a few other things as well).; the same thing, I have eaten cow placentas because thai workers here consider that a delicacy. having worked with large animal vets, i cant begin to tell you all how dangerous that really is... any communicable disease the cow has, its straight in the blood vessels of the placenta. here, althoug we allow the dogs to eat the placentas after births, frankly that is unhealthy animal practice.
reptiles carry salomanella as well.
i can say that i washed my hands with soap and water between every animal, and before most meals. howver, i had often shared nose kisses and icecreams with the goats, my dogs, and now we have the chickens in our living room, watching utube with us, and hubby, although he is a restaraunt cook, at home doesnt not run to wash his hands after every pet of the chicken. where he comes from, chickens drink from peoples drinking and washing dishes water, and soap is a luxury.

BUT, i always always always taught all my workers, all the customers and anyone else, that you MUST ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND RUNNING WATER before handling pacifiers, bottle nipples, food, or children still in the oral mouthy stage, or if u smoke (touch poo and then the cigaretter.). what u do with your own children is always your own problem however it is healthier to be aware. not hysterical (like i always htought americans were) but aware.
a funny anecdote: here we have some kind of chocolate candy in small balls... often kids were eating those in the park; many a child has foudn some on the ground and eaten them, howver in the process, had also ingested goat turds or rabbit turds, thinking it was the same candy (klick is the name of the candy for those that want to know what im talking about)
so i too wouldnt suss to eat an apple that someone cut with a turdy knife, although i have been known to show children how nice goat turds are (the goats that eat pasture and hay have nice clean smelling green dry turds)..i found this site to be fairly comprehensive w/o hysteria... a majority of us may have had some of these diseases w/o knowing about it, others like my doctor girl friend get hospitalized (she seems to get anything that any child or animal gets, while i luckily seem to be immune to almost everything escept scabies from rabbits.)so the rule of thumb is: if u can wash your hands, do so. btw, dont use those alcohol gels, they dont do the job, just running water, and liquid soap do the best cleaning job.

http://www.2ndchance.info/zoonoses.htm

 

[MeatKing]

umm, I hate to be the bearer of bad news... My dd, got "something" can't remember the name, from we believe chicken poop.. (she was helping wash the eggs ect.) We were really bad here for handwashing ;( never thought as upmost importance..
Anywhoo, I can't remember the name sorry. but what she got was diareha, with blood in her stool about three days of it at age 2.5/3 years.
I really wish I could remember name for you...
The health unit, actually called us, and wanted to know basicly where we thought we picked it up.. She said it's fairly common, not to worry about, they just track these things..
I'm also not to sure how long it took from exposure to, getting sick.. And her being so young.. who really knows how many times it took to get sick..
We now wash our hands better around here!

 

[nok13]

generally we had a rule of children under 7 or special needs kids that suck their fingers etc, dont handle chcikens and reptiles w/o having their hands washed right away. most likely, by the age and description, it was a type of salomanella... as that is the age where the kids still get really bad runs and stuff from it (also fever); here, sometime antibiotics are given, sometimes just probiotics and hydration salts, depending on the severity and the weather (very dry and hot=fluids)...
as we get older, we develop immunity of sorts; also, at least here, most of us have had giardia for instance, so we are immune more or less (not immune, i just cant find the english word for it... our bodies are able to deal with it, or dont become symptomatic with the disease...

 

[MeatKing]

yes doc, told me, that if it didn't go away they would give antibiodics. as soon as there was blood in her stool, of course I freaked and brought her to doc., where they did a stool sample.
kids are always in coop handling chickens, and even helping cleaning the coop. Her age I'm sure had a lot to do with it.
Just wanted the op, to know which symptoms to watch for.
Although, with older kids, being aloud to use a knife, their imunties are probley quiet strong, as compaired to a little one.

i wonder what the incubation period? Not sure if this is the right word.. How long it would take for symptoms to accour?
I would think fairly fast.. within 24 hrs?