Help!!! Giving up baby chicks because of Salmonella article!

[homechick]

I am so depressed after reading this:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NATIONWORLD/703300468/1083/LIVING01
These are not "easter chicks" to me. I always wanted a flock of chickens and now I have to give up my babies because I have a 5 year old that has good intentions but forgets to wash his hands sometimes and I also have a 10 month old baby who eats everything and a diabetic mother that babysits when I'm at work. I don't think it would be very good for my baby and mother to get salmonella considering their immune system.
Does anybody know of a "cure" or some kind of vacinne for this? Antibiotic? Something? I don't want to give them up! I was just starting to build their chicken coop.

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~ Sad mother hen.

 

[beckt]

All I can say is don't give them up just yet. See what others here have to say on this. I for one don't believe they give away free chicks with bags of fertilizer as stated in the article.

 

[homechick]

I got some really good info on other rooms I've posted this on so you are right... people's opinions are helping!

 

[Rooster01]

As long as you keep the coop clean you have nothing to worry about. Get them in the habit of washing their hands after the mess with them. Don't give up.

 

[chicknmania]

All animals have the potential of passing on Salmonella; the media's always writing alarming articles about petting zoos and so forth. It's just a question of taking precautions, just like you wash your produce you get from the store, that type of thing. If you're worried you could ask your doctor, vet or pediatrician. My husband is diabetic. The vet told me that as long as my husband doesn't care for the chickens, or handle them (he doesn't), or go into the barn, we're probably ok.Lots of little kids...in fact all little kids in my experience...are not particularly prone to great hygiene. But they seem to do ok for the most part...at least mine did. Although it does happen I've never known a kid who contracted Salmonella.

 

[chickiepooh]

Keep those chix! I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old. We have 16 chickens... of course they started out as cute little chicks. We just practice good hand washing. We have 'chicken shoes' that are only worn out in the chicken yard and coop and don't even come in the main house. It is a rule to keep those hands out of their mouths and to always wash after any outside or other animal contact. My girls have never had salmonella or been sick because of our chickens. Good hygiene is the key. Enjoy you chickens!

 

[homechick]

Thanks everyone! Im keeping my babies. I don't like to throw in the towel but I was afraid I was being selfish. I think I can manage this.. now I just have to worry about a coop... these little boogers grow fast!

 

[justusnak]

Homechick

I am soooo glad you decided to keep them. You will not regret it. As many others have said...clean healthy chickens, have little to no disease and kids will get sick, chickens or not! When you get the coop going, I would like to see your work! take LOTS of pics...and enjoy them. Chickens are fun and relaxing.

 

[ozark hen]

You made the right choice. Sometimes we can overthink things when we read stuff that is suppose to be from the "experts". Common sense and what you see for yourself goes a long ways. Plus the added fact that we have this forum to make our decisions from other's experience is a godsend.

 

[Rosalind]

Per the CDC, the overwhelming majority of Salmonella enterica typhi cases come from spoiled/contaminated food--not from petting zoos or backyard chickens. I've had it myself, and I got it from a contaminated tuna salad sandwich, made by someone who came to work sick and then stored the tuna salad in a fridge that wasn't working so well. The 15 years I lived in farm country, I never got Salmonella once!

I used to work for a company that did contract disinfection of food-processing facilities that had gotten contaminated with Salmonella. By far the majority of contaminations were traced back to humans, usually humans who came to work sick or on factory farms where toilets and hand-washing facilities weren't provided to the field workers, so the field workers had to go in the fields--right next to the food that was being picked, yuck. I think getting Salmonella from a few backyard chickens or a pet store iguana is actually pretty rare. Usually the CDC surveillance team picks up only about 1/3 as many isolates from animals as they do from people. I would worry more about the kids picking up germs from other kids at play than from pet animals in your own home.