Hi, I just got the incubator when my parents came for a visit. I am testing it now just to make sure it is still working properly. I have lined up a friend to donate some "mixed" breed eggs to hatch. I have a site for a chicken coop and a design for it too (well almost). DH seemed okay with it. It has been just like the bees. He was very resistant to it at first but has been really amazed at seeing them work. His concern with the chickens is the aspect of them carrying diseases, ie salmonella and such. Is this a reasonable concern? What kind of diseases and what is the probability of transferring any of the diseases to my children whom I am sure will be crazy about the chickens. Thanks. I hope to put my DH fears to rest!
Tell DH too lose the paranoia of getting a disease from chickens, if you are feeding them well, properly bedding them, and not introducing new chickens from unknown sources then your chances are greater of catching a disease from the money paying for food. Always wash the hands after being around any animals.
Enh. Keep the coop and run clean, wash your hands to get the poo germs off and you will be fine. And that's not just for chickens, it's for any animal. You might point out that chickens are *safer* in some respects than traditional pets, since chickens carry no parasites that can be passed to humans (whereas with dogs and cats, you got your hookworms, toxoplasmosis, etc) and a chicken's bite is quite harmless Good luck, Pat
hey...how about getting him to log on to BYC...I have found out sooo much and feel very confident that I can do this in a very healthy way for my family and my gals...he will come around and probably take over!!
Thanks. I will pass on the info. I guess with all of the media coverage of salmanella, he was getting a little paranoid!!!
My hubby was paranoid at first too until he started doing research himself online. ALL good news and yes, if you take care of them properly and wash hands after every play session you will be just fine. Now he gets to enjoy watching our son enjoy our chickens And he's very relaxed about it. My son just knows now to wash hands after playing with the chickens.
Make sure the kiddos wash their hands when they get done. I leave a bottle of hand sanitizer in the coop, so on the way out you can pump some on your hands and wash up a bit. Also, mix up some bleach water and spray down the walls in the coop from time to time to keep things clean. Good Luck Nick