There seem to be many pieces missing from the Privett puzzle. I spoke with a Privett representative yesterday. I asked her how baby chicks could get contaminated with salmonella from a duck pond. Think about it. It doesn't make any sense. Baby ducks would have been too new to have already been swimming in the duck pond, so the chicks couldn't have been contaminated by contact with baby ducks.
The Privett rep replied, "I have no answer to that question."
From what I've been reading, salmonella is liable to be present in the guts of chickens, as well as newly hatched chicks. Chickens may become ill from it only under the most filthy conditions. Humans, especially an 18-month old baby girl, can become ill if they handle a chick who has salmonella in their gut, somehow coming into contact with the chick feces. Then, babies being babies, hands go into their mouth, and then the salmonella has infected the baby.
From what little information there is about the March salmonella outbreak, it was from chicks sold around Easter, people bought them for their kids as novelties, and the kids got sick from handling them. Why are we only now learning about this five months later? What's the point? Who benefits?
Privett has a "non-denial denial" statement on their web page regarding this situation. I'm still left with almost as little information as when I began this quest. I was thinking about getting a collective stool sample tested from my flock, but they're all healthy and they live in a coop where droppings are scooped up within hours and the sleeping quarters are scrubbed down daily with Lysol. My flock has a better chance of being struck by lightening than having salmonella.
According the the
National Agricultural Biosecurity Center:
Salmonella bacteria survive well in wet environments shielded from sunlight.
Survive well between pH 4 to 8 and temperature between 8∞C and 45∞C
Since salmonella are facultative anaerobic bacteria, they survive well under low oxygen tension, such as that found in manure slurry pits
Salmonella is destroyed by the drying effects of wind, by the bactericidal effect of UV irradiation from the sun, and by disinfectant agents, such as chlorine solutions, iodines, quarternary ammoniums, and phenolics
So birds and coops that have access to sunlight are less likely to support conditions that keep Salmonella viable.
