Chicken Rant! Stopping coop laying and chicken chores while pregnant.

[Uzuri]

Was it Toxoplasmosis by any chance?

 

[Ghostchick]

I am also pregnant! I am 11 weeks. I gave up the cat litter chore to my oldest, oh dARN, but still take care of the chickens. I heard online that if you've had the cat for a while, you have probably already been exposed to toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is an infection you can get from a microscopic parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Although the infection generally causes a mild, symptomless illness in people with healthy immune systems, it's risky during pregnancy because the parasite may infect the placenta and your unborn baby.

Researchers estimate that of the over 4 million births in the United States each year, between 400 and 4,000 babies are born with toxoplasmosis (known as congenital toxoplasmosis). This infection can be mild or severe, causing stillbirth, long-term structural and neurological damage, and other devastating effects. The good news is there's a lot you can do to avoid becoming infected in the first place.

We use the deep litter method, and it is supposed to keep it warmer anyway. But come spring, my husband is cleaning it out! I think a dust mask would be good to use, and some gloves. My coop is very dusty. And what is it with the rooster in the nestbox, anyway? I have had my chickens for less than a year, so am new to this. My roo has just started hanging out there. DH has said its because the hens have plucked his but bald and he can actually keep it warm this way. Yep, he isn't the toughest rooster in the block, but we love him! He is a WC Black Polish, so is different from all the others.

 

[HeatherFeather]

Toxoplasmosis.....arrrrrgh!

I was living with my mother when I was pregnant, and tried to convince her to do the catbox for me.....unfortunately she refused on the grounds that since I'd already been cleaning catboxes for nearly 20 years, that there was no way I hadn't been exposed to it...and therefore already had it and she was having no part of cleaning any catbox.

There is definately a test for it though. If you've already been exposed to it at some other point in your life, then it doesn't matter, as the first exposure would trigger a flu like infection and confer lifetime immunity. Its only if you have an active infection that you contract while pregnant that can harm your baby.

And other animals do carry it....cows, chickens, pigs, goats...but I think you have to eat their undercooked meat or raw milk to contract it...unlike cats, where its the poop. Not really sure why.

I'd just get the test if I was you, if you think it will put your mind at rest. Or at least find out how much it will cost you to have the test and take it from there.

 

[Hatrick]

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Me too! 11 weeks on Saturday. I find it funny that you guys know before a lot of my close friends/parents etc. Don't know many of my local friends that frequent this site.

This is a SURPRISE! baby #4 for us...plus chickens, plus the dog...Lordy.

 

[redhen]

what about that histoplasmo.. (cant spell the dang word!) disease that chickens can carry? I'd maybe be a little worried about that...

 

[gsim]

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LOL! Mmm. And then make myself a sandwich...

And then forget and lick

each of your fingers!

 

[kelidei]

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You do not know how perfect that comment was for me today!!!! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[Mandalina]

I did my chicken chores up until the day before i had this last baby lol. i was out there in the cold shoveling the coop out the week before the baby came and relaid fresh shavings. i was actually worried about their water being checked about an hour after having the baby and yelled at my husband to make sure they had enough water lol. i did all the litter boxes too. and the scooping of dog poop out of their pens. and changing my not yet potty trained 2yr old's diapers. dang poop.

 

[briteday]

And you think chickens make a lot of poop?!! Then just don't count the diapers you change in your lifetime, or theirs! It might make you stop at one child if you figured out the cost of diapers alone. But then those of us with chickens try not to add up the costs of anything

!!!

I am a medical lab tech, biochemist. Most women who have grown up with cats will have antibodies (produced after an exposure to the protozoa...microscopic bug) earlier in life. However, not good to live on the edge with new life so either wear gloves and a mask then wash hands carefully...or get someone else to change the litter box.

I didn't have chickens when I was pregnant. However, I don't know of any really common illnesses that chickens carry that would harm you. Here's a link to histoplasmosis:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdmbirdcontrol/224/

Though it is found in the soil where animals live / poop, the chicken itself, nor fresh droppings are infected. It is the undisturbed fecal piles near roosts of any bird/bat or barnyard piles of other animals that contain the histo. So, if you don't let poop build up in your coop, wear gloves, and possibly a mask if cleaning out bedding...wash your hands carefully...I'd take my chances with being pregnant and caring for chickens. The only other concerns would be E. coli and salmonella. But most of us don't give up preparing raw meat while pregnant, have learned proper precautions for that, so use common sense with handling your chickens as well.

Hope that helps. (my "only" just turned 18, off to college, more time for chicken genetics around here!)

 

[MowNGrow]

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And your adding more pooh when the baby comes LMAO....