Did anyone catch Salmonella from their backyard flocks? Share your experience

[Mama Runner]

Ok last thing I am going to say on the matter. Cause I'm not sure That we are not getting trolled.

Look at it this way. If keeping a backyard flocks, whatever it may be was so dangerous there wouldn't be any of us able to answer your questions. We would all be dead or in the bathroom with our BACKSIDE on the potty and our heads in a bucket.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Probably not. Just wash hands often and don't wash chicken things in the sink. Ps. Don't go licking your birds either! Lol!

 

[Astroboy]

Thanks for all the great replies... It seems like the benefit of keeping the backyard flocks outweighs the risks. Great community here.. !

 

[Suzi18]

Nope....nada.....nien.....non....no!! I hug and yes, kiss my chickens every day. It's just media sensationalism.

 

[Mrs. Light Sussex]

Hi Mrs Light Sussex:

Can you please enlighten me on Vaccination of your flock against salmonella? How much does it cost? How often do you need to do it?

Thank you to all of you who responded, What a friendly and knowledgeable crowd!

They need at least two doses to build-up immunity. The first one is administered at 8 weeks of age and the booster 4-6 weeks later.
In Israel a bottle of 1000 doses costs about $80, unfortunately they don't have smaller bottles.

 

[BantyChooks]

We would all be dead or in the bathroom with our BACKSIDE on the potty and our heads in a bucket.

 

[Jessicx]

Whether or not you eat meat is irrelevant, the chances are animal byproducts are used in growing the fruits & vegetables you eat. You can get Salmonella from plants.

Btw, if you don't eat meat why do you have chickens?

The point I was trying to make was that no one else in my house got sick but me. I have never before had a case of food poisoning until I got my chickens. Apparently I should have led with that. Honestly, the fact that you can get salmonella from fruits and vegetables is irrelevant. I was simply making a case that you can, in fact, get salmonella from your flock. I don't eat my chickens, I keep them as pets.

 

[barred2rock]

The point I was trying to make was that no one else in my house got sick but me. I have never before had a case of food poisoning until I got my chickens. Apparently I should have led with that. Honestly, the fact that you can get salmonella from fruits and vegetables is irrelevant. I was simply making a case that you can, in fact, get salmonella from your flock. I don't eat my chickens, I keep them as pets.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was ragging on you. Best regards!

 

[JaeG]

There is exactly the same scare mongering that goes on around feeding your cats and dogs a raw food diet - that you'll end up with salmonella, or they will. As long as you wash your hands you aren't in danger of getting sick. And if our dog doesn't overly like something we've given her she will bury it until it's crawling with maggots and mushy and disgusting, then she's eaten it with no ill effects. I've raw fed our dog and cats for 5 years now and no one in the family (pets included), or those that visit, has ever been sick as a result. And I used to look after two babies 5 days a week, for 10 hours each day.

Big corporations just don't like losing customers so scare mongering is all they can do to stop losing more.

 

[Birdinhand]

That makes perfect sense! As I was reading through these posts I kept wondering why in my 42 years of life I have never gotten sick from the millions of cats, dogs, horses, cows, chickens and ducks I have been around. IMMUNITY!
Now to go all conspiracy theory on the subject, I wouldn't doubt if its an over-exaggeration of the media. Backyard flocks are becoming more and more popular and we know the government doesn't want us to self-sustain! Media and government love scare tactics!

yes, at the very least, fear is the commodity of the press. that said, some common sense is in order when it comes to raising animals and food prep in general.

and to answer the OP, I've been around farm animals on and off my whole life and I have never gotten salmonella. I do take precautions. I have my kids wash hands after handling the chicks. I have "chicken shoes" for the coop, which do not come into the core of the house. when processing meat birds, I assume they are contaminated, pretty much every step of the way, all the way to cooking them and make efforts to reduce microbial spread with each stage.