Fellow BYCer is need of morel support.

[Kuntry Klucker]

It all started making sense to me when I read that.

For some people veganism is just a diet. But for many others, it's like a cult and they feel like they need to "convert" others to their lifestyle even through lying. It's very bizarre and I didn't believe it at first, but if you know any ex-vegans they'll tell you how it is. Anyway, I think this guy just got very offended that you keep chickens and is trying to discourage you from doing it by making things up.

Being around animals is actually good for your immune system. Don't let these people discourage you. I don't know anyone who ever got sick from keeping chickens, but I have met many people who got sick on a vegan diet.

Thanks, he is an avid vegan. I guess I never ran into one who was offended by someone who had farm animals. I even told him that I do not plan to eat them they are pets.
I guess even eggs is a no, no on the vegan diet. I have head too of other vegans getting sick due to their diet.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

My advice would be don't let him get to you. As you pointed out, you've had your flock for 4 years and you're ok. I would guess you know more about chickens than he does.

Keep your birds healthy and learn as much about them as you can. I'd be willing to bet more people have been injured or made sick by their cats and dogs than chickens. Did he have anything valid like scientific research to base his opinions on or was he just being a know-it-all?

People say all kinds of bizarre things, you can only sift out what's helpful and what is not. Toss out what is not helpful.

Thanks. No, he did not have anything valid, just he reports that you read or hear about from time to time about backyard chicken owners getting sick from their eggs
for chickens. I had not heard of it but apparently he said that it is very common to get sick from backyard chickens.

I think he is a believer that things need to be done the way that the government mandates. I don't know, being a vegan that seems strange. I was just
shocked at some of the claims that he made and it made me kind of afraid to keep chickens.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi! I'm sorry he worried you, but good subject! I'm a newby chicken farmer but have years in Animal Control and disease transmission, control and prevention, Zoonosis. First, ask yourself if this gent has knowledge of disease control and transmission, or is repeating activist tactics aimed at scaring folks out of eating meat. My Dad was raised on a farm, worked on filthy chicken and Turkey ranches WAY before strict regulation. He's 83, so don't panic just yet! Second, are your chickens completely free range or somewhat contained? Having chicken poop all over the property makes sanitation more challenging. Overcrowding also makes sanitation difficult. Any open H20, puddle, mud, waterpan is a petri dish for disease.. DRY area with air movement and lots of sunshine is a natural defense against disease. I'm not phobic about disease, but I'm careful. I don't like poop on my shoes, so I wear the paper booties when I hang out with them. I wear gloves when I'm cleaning and changing H20. Both are cheap. Oh, and I don't bite my nails! LOL!
Third, Are they for eggs or for meat or for both? I found good stuff about safe egg handling and clean nest boxes! Fascinating! If they're for meat, I'm clueless.
I hope you feel better, personally I chose to raise my own eggers and grow my own veggies because I don't trust the "experts".

Hi, thanks for your post. My girls are contained. I free ranged for a while but then the bird flu kind of scared me, and I put them back into the pen. They have a uncovered pen
next to their covered pen that I let them out in under a big tree so they are protected from predators.

As fas as puddles and standing water, I do my best. They have a dirt floor chicken run, so when it rains, yes water can puddle and it can get muddy. but their pen
has plenty of air motion so it dries. If it gets really bad, I will just shovel it out so it can dry faster.

I do not eat my birds, they are pets, we just eat the eggs.

 

[Mutt Farm]

Adorable! Happy chickens! Thanks for posting pictures! I can't answer your salmonella question, hope an experienced member replies. I can tell you that one of my horse riding group friends went vegan. Like the other commenter called it, she is now "cult vegan". She called me a "barbaric murderer". I'm not. I eat an occasional steak or chicken, some fish but am so very mindful of my imprint and the treatment of animals. I grow my own garden, don't use pesticides, have a butterfly garden to save the Monarchs, and native hummingbirds. Her comments devastated me. I hope you shake this off. You're doing good.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Roy Rooster, your pen looks very large and spacious, I think your chickens will still be happy and healthy in there even without free-ranging. They will be safer from predators too.

Salmonella is killed by heat, yes. Even if your birds got it, it would not hurt you so long as you cooked the eggs and cleaned your hands. I know someone that had a turtle that had salmonella. He had the turtle for like 10 years but never got sick from it because he was careful to wash his hands after touching it. I do not know if there is a way to treat salmonella in chickens or not. The guy I know with the turtle, I think he tried to treat it somehow but it didn't work. I am curious now if it can be treated or not- I will look into it online and see if I find anything.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Adorable! Happy chickens! Thanks for posting pictures! I can't answer your salmonella question, hope an experienced member replies. I can tell you that one of my horse riding group friends went vegan. Like the other commenter called it, she is now "cult vegan". She called me a "barbaric murderer". I'm not. I eat an occasional steak or chicken, some fish but am so very mindful of my imprint and the treatment of animals. I grow my own garden, don't use pesticides, have a butterfly garden to save the Monarchs, and native hummingbirds. Her comments devastated me. I hope you shake this off. You're doing good.

Thank you for your post. I am doing all that I can shake it off, but it did scare me.
I have friends that are vegan that are not like that at all. I guess I just had my first encounter with
a cult vegan. I love my girls, I do all that I can for them, I am in no way mistreating them. I am
surprised that he could not see that. Oh well.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Roy Rooster, your pen looks very large and spacious, I think your chickens will still be happy and healthy in there even without free-ranging. They will be safer from predators too.

Salmonella is killed by heat, yes. Even if your birds got it, it would not hurt you so long as you cooked the eggs and cleaned your hands. I know someone that had a turtle that had salmonella. He had the turtle for like 10 years but never got sick from it because he was careful to wash his hands after touching it. I do not know if there is a way to treat salmonella in chickens or not. The guy I know with the turtle, I think he tried to treat it somehow but it didn't work. I am curious now if it can be treated or not- I will look into it online and see if I find anything.

ok, thank you. I thought that if you cooked food till done that it killed most of what we could get in the way of bacteria.

Thanks, I am glad you like my pen. I am thinking that you are right, free ranging does open them up to predators. They have a side
chicken yard that I let them out in on nice days. When it is really hot, cold, or wet I keep them under the pen. I put a fan in the coop
for the hotter days to keep them cooler and make their coop and nice place to hand out. I would love to have one of the posh
coops tha I have seen, but this is the best that we could do.

I know you can get salmonella from other critters, turtles, snakes, indoor pet birds and so forth. but we don't eat their
eggs. So I just wonder if there is a difference. If you find anything please let me know. I think that lots of people would want to
know that as well.

 

[Blooie]

You know, there's always one. That one person who has to make himself look bigger by making others feel smaller. The topic doesn't have to be chickens....it doesn't matter what the discussion is. He always has to be the expert! He has to toss around "facts" that you've never heard of, be able to repeat little known studies, and use big words and phrases that are just high falutin' enough to scare the bejeebers out of his victim. And he tosses in just enough factual information to make it all seem so believable. And Heaven help you if if he's a particular lifestyle advocate...he's managed to find any and all internet sites that validate his point of view and those points instantly become the gospel according to St. Him.

I run into them at parties or barbeques on occasion, too. I just call those folks "Budwisers"........the more they "bud" the "wiser" they get. Can you get sick from your chickens? Maybe. But you stand a better chance at getting sick something your 4 year old brings home from preschool, and I doubt that any of us are going to get rid of our 4 year olds.

Your set up looks great. Keep on doing just what you're doing. I'd rather wipe a little poop off a fresh egg than wonder what chemicals have touched a store bought egg! At least it's honest dirt!

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

You know, there's always one. That one person who has to make himself look bigger by making others feel smaller. The topic doesn't have to be chickens....it doesn't matter what the discussion is. He always has to be the expert! He has to toss around "facts" that you've never heard of, be able to repeat little known studies, and use big words and phrases that are just high falutin' enough to scare the bejeebers out of his victim. And he tosses in just enough factual information to make it all seem so believable. And Heaven help you if if he's a particular lifestyle advocate...he's managed to find any and all internet sites that validate his point of view and those points instantly become the gospel according to St. Him.

I run into them at parties or barbeques on occasion, too. I just call those folks "Budwisers"........the more they "bud" the "wiser" they get. Can you get sick from your chickens? Maybe. But you stand a better chance at getting sick something your 4 year old brings home from preschool, and I doubt that any of us are going to get rid of our 4 year olds.

Your set up looks great. Keep on doing just what you're doing. I'd rather wipe a little poop off a fresh egg than wonder what chemicals have touched a store bought egg! At least it's honest dirt!

LOL!!! "Budwisers" I like that. I am going to remember that one, that is good.

Thanks, I know I get more sick from going to walmart in the winter than my chickens so far. It just scared me some of the things he said, that at some point they could
make me deathly ill. I keep them as clean as I can seeing that they are chickens and messy anyway. Thanks again.