Salmonella chick? Help

[chickarama]

Last Wednesday, I brought home 2 Buff Orp 2.5 wk old chicks from the local feed store to begin my backyard flock. The store said they had been vaccinated, so medicated feed was unnecessary, so I bought regular chick feed. I have 5, 10, & 15 year old kids who enjoyed holding and watching our new additions. I have been very serious about making the kids wash their hands and forearms etc. every time they touch them. Even though we have been cautious, my 5 year old started in on Saturday, 4 days after bringing them home, with diarrhea and abdominal pain, which lasted 6 days. I got it the next day and it has so far lasted 6 long days. We took the chicks over to a friends house to show their girls, on the Saturday that my son started to get sick, and subsequently their daughter began with vomiting and diarrhea on the following Monday and she still has diarrhea (5 days). I am afraid that one or both of the chicks has salmonella and this is what is plaguing us. Everyone is getting better, and it has been annoying, but nothing too serious. My concern is, if it is salmonella, what do I do with the chicks? I'd rather not spend a fortune at the vet, but can't risk a repeat outbreak. Do I treat the chicks, get rid of them, or will it go away? Will it infect the rest of the chicks? About 5 days after I got the first two, I got two more, slightly older different breed chicks from another hobby farm and these chicks are not vaccinated. We are enjoying these chicks so much, but I am really feeling in my gut that they are the source of our illness, so I feel like I need to disinfect everyone and everything all the time now and I am worried that all the chicks will become contaminated. Can someone please tell me what to do with the chicks if they do have salmonella? I really want this backyard flock to work, but at the moment it is causing me a lot of anxiety wondering if everyone who comes in contact with them is going to get sick. Please advise so we can enjoy our flock, healthy and happy!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. More than likely your 5 year old got gastroenteritis from somewhere/someone else, and it has spread through family/playmates like it usually does. Norovirus is really famous for it. If you are still convinced the chickens have salmonella, your vet could run a fecal test for it on a chicken stool sample, or your pediatrician could run a stool sample on your 5 year old. Campylobacter is common in chickens, and many people get that from eating under-cooked chicken, or from handling chickens. Simple hand washing usually is good enough to prevent it.

 

[GuineaFowling]

If you suspect the chicks have salmonella, return to your feed store and ask them for a medication that gets rid of salmonella. Its not expensive and you wont have to get rid of the chicks. I buy chicks that most of the time are not vaccinated and none have ever had salmonella or gotten my family sick. And we give them kisses.
It could be from the place you bought them from though.

 

[chickarama]

Thank you for the responses! I will look for the medication, just to be on the safe side, so we can enjoy them. Of all the searching I did all over the web, it tells you how to treat people who get it, how to avoid getting it, what symptoms your chicken would have, but nowhere could I find what to do with the chickens that might have it. I appreciate the help!