I Need Help Addressing a few Concerns

[JadedPhoenix]

And s/he was trying to make sense of the fact that you said and I quote "Ocular histoplasmosis is what the eye doctor is talking about.
I have a sister in law that is losing her sight because of it. Growing up her family raised thousands of turkeys." How is that connected? From the info JadedPhoenix posted, there is no connection. Just because your sister in law has that disease and she grew up on a turkey farm in no way guarantees that the turkeys are causing it.

I don't think ocular histoplasmosis is the thing the eye doctor is talking about, and it is a bit rude of you to post that information and get offended when people ask you questions about it. If you don't want to be questioned, please go to another forum.

X's 2

 

[Triple Willow]

I am working to change chicken laws in my community.  I came up agaisnt 2 things that I dont know how to address and get around.  1.  A farmer stated chickens need an acre of land to be healthy.  Even if it is only the 3-5 we proposed
 2.  An eye doctor stated that children will go blind as a result of being exposed to chicken droppings.  

I know these are silly, but these are 2 "experts" and I am kinda viewed as a crazy chicken lady after they spoke at the last meeting.  Does anyone have any advice on how to address this?  Thank you.

I saw a study somewhere a while back that Amish/Mennonite kids had better immune systems BECAUSE they grew up on farms around farm animals. Ask the expert why all the Amish/Mennonite children aren't blind. Ask him why all the chicken farmers don't go blind.

That farmer, strange. Ask them if the citizens of the US are eating "unhealthy" eggs and chicken because commercial laying hens and commercial broilers sure don't have no acre to live on! Take them some pics of commercial battery layer houses and commercial broiler houses and ask the just how healthy those chickens look. Tell them that you and your family don't want to and shouldn't have to support those kinds of farming practices in order to eat eggs or chicken either.

If they kick up about the smell tell them that chickens kept on deep litter do not stink. Find somebody nearby that uses the deep litter method and take them there and let them see for theirselves that it doesn't smell. If you use deep litter (and keep it dry) and feed fermented feed a smell will never be a problem. As far as noise, a cackling hen isn't near as loud or irritating as a barking dog.

 

[bantamrooster]

And s/he was trying to make sense of the fact that you said and I quote "[COLOR=333333]Ocular histoplasmosis is what the eye doctor is talking about.[/COLOR][COLOR=333333]
[/COLOR][COLOR=333333]I have a sister in law that is losing her sight because of it. Growing up her family raised thousands of turkeys." How is that connected? From the info JadedPhoenix posted, there is no connection. Just because your sister in law has that disease and she grew up on a turkey farm in no way guarantees that the turkeys are causing it. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]I don't think ocular histoplasmosis is the thing the eye doctor is talking about, and it is a bit rude of you to post that information and get offended when people ask you questions about it. If you don't want to be questioned, please go to another forum.[/COLOR]

Heres what I know.
My sister in law is losing her sight. She was diagnosed with ocular histoplasmosis. When asking about the disease they asked if she grew up around poultry and she had. Her family raised turkeys. She was told that was the cause.
Thats why I posted what I did. Ive been around poultry for 45 years and that was the first time ive heard of anything like that and the only time ive heard of any disease involving losing sight connected with chickens.
Like most things youre right there is no guarantee. And if you dont thing thats what the OPs expert eye doctor was talking about then thats fine. Say it. If you know of anything else it could be then post it.
And also like just about anything else if you do an internet search you can find many sites swearing opposite views or opinions.
Search " ocular histoplasmosis chickens" and you'll find pages of sites saying theres a connection.
Youre also right since I posted something on a forum anyone can question it all they want but I also have the right to answer or not or to be rude if I like. If you dont get that then maybe you should find a new forum. Im not going anywhere

 

[bantamrooster]

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/97-146/

http://www.williamsoneyeinstitute.com/retina-center/presumed-ocular-histoplasmosis

Or from the link Jadedphoenix posted
https://www.nei.nih.gov/health/histoplasmosis/histoplasmosis.asp#b

The first section that wasnt posted...

What is histoplasmosis?

Histoplasmosis is a disease caused when airborne spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum are inhaled into the lungs, the primary infection site. This microscopic fungus, which is found throughout the world in river valleys and soil where bird or bat droppings accumulate, is released into the air when soil is disturbed by plowing fields, sweeping chicken coops, or digging holes.

Histoplasmosis is often so mild that it produces no apparent symptoms. Any symptoms that might occur are often similar to those from a common cold. In fact, if you had histoplasmosis symptoms, you might dismiss them as those from a cold or flu, since the body's immune system normally overcomes the infection in a few days without treatment.

However, histoplasmosis, even mild cases, can later cause a serious eye disease called ocular histoplasmosis syndrome (OHS), a leading cause of vision loss in Americans ages 20 to 40.

 

[Triple Willow]

Heres what I know.
My sister in law is losing her sight. She was diagnosed with ocular histoplasmosis. When asking about the disease they asked if she grew up around poultry and she had. Her family raised turkeys. She was told that was the cause.
Thats why I posted what I did. Ive been around poultry for 45 years and that was the first time ive heard of anything like that and the only time ive heard of any disease involving losing sight connected with chickens.
Like most things youre right there is no guarantee. And if you dont thing thats what the OPs expert eye doctor was talking about then thats fine. Say it. If you know of anything else it could be then post it.
And also like just about anything else if you do an internet search you can find many sites swearing opposite views or opinions.
Search " ocular histoplasmosis chickens" and you'll find pages of sites saying theres a connection.
Youre also right since I posted something on a forum anyone can question it all they want but I also have the right to answer or not or to be rude if I like. If you dont get that then maybe you should find a new forum. Im not going anywhere

(Sorry about your sister-in-law losing her sight. I know that is hard, folks in my family have sight issues too.)

Btw, I don't think you were being rude at all.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote:
That sounds extremely weak indeed. If there is no proof the histo fungus causes it, how can they name the disease after it?

Anyway, this is a moot point, it's one of those things that is so rare as to be a freak occurrence by the sounds of it --- a more legitimate concern is salmonella, and even that's not good enough cause to ban chicken keeping. Also, X2 with Triple Willow's note about battery hens/similar setups. You can't go saying they're healthy enough if backyard chooks are incapable of health with greater space.

 

[speckledhen]

I saw a study somewhere a while back that Amish/Mennonite kids had better immune systems BECAUSE they grew up on farms around farm animals. Ask the expert why all the Amish/Mennonite children aren't blind. Ask him why all the chicken farmers don't go blind.

That farmer, strange. Ask them if the citizens of the US are eating "unhealthy" eggs and chicken because commercial laying hens and commercial broilers sure don't have no acre to live on! Take them some pics of commercial battery layer houses and commercial broiler houses and ask the just how healthy those chickens look. Tell them that you and your family don't want to and shouldn't have to support those kinds of farming practices in order to eat eggs or chicken either.

If they kick up about the smell tell them that chickens kept on deep litter do not stink. Find somebody nearby that uses the deep litter method and take them there and let them see for theirselves that it doesn't smell. If you use deep litter (and keep it dry) and feed fermented feed a smell will never be a problem. As far as noise, a cackling hen isn't near as loud or irritating as a barking dog.

EXACTLY right. We'd have a country full of blind people who all grew up around poultry and we simply do not. Commercial hens are crammed many to one cage. Naturally, that is extremely unhealthy, and the country is eating those eggs. They are most definitely healthier running free in someone's yard or in a nice sized pen even, but they do not need an acre. I have 45 chickens and they don't even use the 2 acres of our 5 acres that are fenced when they free range. They've never had any contagious disease and are very healthy.

Heres what I know.
My sister in law is losing her sight. She was diagnosed with ocular histoplasmosis. When asking about the disease they asked if she grew up around poultry and she had. Her family raised turkeys. She was told that was the cause.
Thats why I posted what I did. Ive been around poultry for 45 years and that was the first time ive heard of anything like that and the only time ive heard of any disease involving losing sight connected with chickens.
Like most things youre right there is no guarantee. And if you dont thing thats what the OPs expert eye doctor was talking about then thats fine. Say it. If you know of anything else it could be then post it.
And also like just about anything else if you do an internet search you can find many sites swearing opposite views or opinions.
Search " ocular histoplasmosis chickens" and you'll find pages of sites saying theres a connection.
Youre also right since I posted something on a forum anyone can question it all they want but I also have the right to answer or not or to be rude if I like. If you dont get that then maybe you should find a new forum. Im not going anywhere

I find that doctors are very quick to blame many respiratory and eye ailments on chickens, not to mention other ailments. It may be caused by poultry but then again, it may have a different cause and the poultry is the scapegoat if the patient has proximity to them.

If someone has slightly raised cholesterol, though it's a genetic predisposition, if they eat their own farm raised eggs, those are the scapegoat, though it's been proven over and over specifically that true free range eggs (not commercial barn-raised) are lower in cholesterol and higher in some vitamins and minerals than commercial eggs.

I am sorry about your SIL's predicament. You are a new member here and though you do not know her, I did not see that Sonoran was being rude at all. Her offering that histoplasmosis was rare was something that the OP could use in her fight with the neighborhood. As a moderator on this forum for over 5 years and a member for more than 7, I've had to referee discussions because inflection and tone are not readily determined over the web, so please don't be quick to take offense when someone is trying to offer help and information in the discussion.

Some come into the room (discussion) through a different door than others.

 

[ChickenStacy]

Thank you for the responses! I was aware of histoplasmosis, I work both as a full time paramedic and a part time medical laboratory scientist. But the risk is so rare, I was shocked it was even brought up. You can aquire toxoplasmosis from your cats, a variety of intestinal worms from both cats and dogs, pasturella, the list goes on. I wonder where this doctor was in allowing cats and dogs?? Heck, when I lived in Colorado Springs every summer there would be a couple confirmed plague victims! I thought it was a silly arugument, I am just not sure how to convice the city council it was silly.

Was the farmer correct in the fact that my 3 hens need to be on an acre of land? If my backyard is not big enough, I dont want to cause undue stress to the hens... It is a large yard, but not an acre! I had a 50 ft space I was going to set up for them. I've used less in the past in the towns that allow it, and they all seemed happy and were still healthy...

That is odd about the horses and sheep thing, seems like it would make more sense to have that the other way around. That said, I spent my entire liefe around chickens, and only 1 year with sheep and never around horses, so I know nothing about them! LOL

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you for the responses! I was aware of histoplasmosis, I work both as a full time paramedic and a part time medical laboratory scientist. But the risk is so rare, I was shocked it was even brought up. You can aquire toxoplasmosis from your cats, a variety of intestinal worms from both cats and dogs, pasturella, the list goes on. I wonder where this doctor was in allowing cats and dogs?? Heck, when I lived in Colorado Springs every summer there would be a couple confirmed plague victims! I thought it was a silly arugument, I am just not sure how to convice the city council it was silly.

Was the farmer correct in the fact that my 3 hens need to be on an acre of land? If my backyard is not big enough, I dont want to cause undue stress to the hens... It is a large yard, but not an acre! I had a 50 ft space I was going to set up for them. I've used less in the past in the towns that allow it, and they all seemed happy and were still healthy...

That is odd about the horses and sheep thing, seems like it would make more sense to have that the other way around. That said, I spent my entire liefe around chickens, and only 1 year with sheep and never around horses, so I know nothing about them! LOL

Absolutely NOT! Chickens do NOT need an acre of land, not small numbers of them, certainly. If you have around 10 sf per bird outside in a pen, that is adequate and WAY more than any commercial operation ever has. Reread my response about my birds. I have 45. Usually groups of 10-20 at a time free range on over 2 acres of it and they NEVER cover that much. It is a very generous, generous area for them. That is when they free range. They have smaller pens when I don't want to let them out to roam, MUCH more than 10 sf, but WAY less than an acre. Saying an acre is needed for 3 hens is just stupid. He's being disengenuouos. Maybe he doesn't want anyone competing with him, hard to gauge motives.

 

[ChickenStacy]

Thank you! I thought that sounded awful large. At the same time though, I was thinking that maybe in the past I have done my girls a huge diservice with their runs of 30sq ft and 50sq ft! I dont let them free range the entire backyard becayse we DO have a pair of Great Horned owls and at least 1 red tailed hawk in the neighborhood, and I dont want them to become dinner! I have another metting with the city coucil on Monday night and they will hear those of us who want them, and those who oppose them. I just wanted to touch base and make sure that I was not incorrect in those 2 items. Thank you again!