Poll: What Diseases do Chickens Spread?

[Gatordog]

My cat of 10 years is now dead because of me having Chickens. She got a fungal lung infection and was but to sleep today. I have to take my dog in to see if he has the same fungal infection tomorrow. I could also have the same infection. The nitrogen in the poop is the problem, it promotes a fungal growth that is deadly. I live in deep south texas (Olmito) does anybody want 6 free chickens?

 

[Pele]

To be honest, I always get a bit irritated when people try to tell me that chickens will be the death of me. The only way that I would contract a chicken-borne disease is if I practiced really REALLY bad sanitation habits. Habits like never washing my hands after I touch them, drinking their uncooked blood (yes some people do this, it's how Avian Flu started), not cleaning thier coop often enough, etc.

People are so suprised when they get lazy with any kind of animal, and contract a disease. It's not the animal's fault if someone decides to skip precautions like wearing protective gear when cleaning, and not cleaning often enough. Disease and parasites are opportunistic... so don't give them the opportunity.

Case and point, Avian Flu exists here in Idaho because some yokel thought "hey, you know what would be cool to have? Alligators!", and didn't take any precautions whatsoever. The alligators were carrying Avian Flu from Florida mosquitos, and when the local mosquitos bit them, tada, the virus spread. Poor standards and poor practices will get you with ANY animal that you keep, not just chickens.

So.... can you get diseases from your chickens? Yep, you absolutely can. But it'll be your fault, not the fault of your birds.

 

[Gatordog]

If you would read what I posted you would see that it is a nitrogen problem and not a chicken problem. I live in the Southwest and the soil here is high in nitrogen and the fungus that killed my cat, and maybe a problem for me and my dog likes to grow in nitrogen rich soils. I clean the Coop every day and my 6 chickens free range during the day. It might be might fault that I would clean the coop and then deposit the poop around the base of trees. By me doing this, it might of caused the nitrogen to get to high and grow the fungus that killed my cat. It was hard for me to let go and have the Vet put my cat to sleep today, I cried for several hours and it was hard for me to drive. I like my chickens, put we should let people know that this can occur, especially in the warmer southern climates. If it turns out that the poop is the cause of the problem than I need to get ride of the peeps and spray a anti-fungal. Does anybody know of a good antifungal to use in a small spray rig?