Salmonella in chicks?

[pony148]

I heard that chicks are full of salmonella bacteria and not to handle them much. Is this true? should I keep my kids from then. they haven't hatched yet, expected any day now.

 

[MissAnnieFrannie]

I dont know anything about this for sure. what I do know is that many animals carry bacteria and such, but I wouldnt think that it is anything that some routine and supervised hand washing and sanitizing couldnt fix. Maybe you can make a rule of thumb, when the chicks are handled, whoever touches them should wash up and then use a spritz of hand sanitizer.

 

[Nodaksnakelover]

you'd be surprised at how many kinds of salmonella bacteria there is! You run a higher risk of getting it from preparing your own food than you do any animal. But never the less, one should wash their hands after handling critters. But interestingly, one can develop resistance to different strains of the bacteria that could make another person really sick after one exposure. It's not exactly as deadly as it's made out to be, yet yes, do use caution. You could even give the poor little peeps something if you aren't careful! Washing ones hands is a great way to prevent troubles. We even did a test in college once on Salmonella. We handled snakes in our reptile lab. Even the individual snakes had variable strains of salmonella to even registering not having at all. But was interesting was they couldn't swab it off the people who only just merely ran their hands under water and towel dried. But do use soap and warm water. I'm just saying I found it to be an interesting study.

I think though there tend to be the alarmist camp that will tell you the sky is falling with this issue of salmonella. When in fact it's always been around. Just a fact that it can and does make some people very sick and even kills people every year. But it isn't a bacteria that is only one variety with a name, it's a multiple types of this same named bacteria and pretty common in the environment we live in. Just when you bring in a new critter, they typically carry their own strain that you may or may not be resistant to. And that is what can make you sick till your body getting a wee bit of it naturally develops a resistance to the new variety. And that's only IF you have an immune system that works properly.

And that was one of the requirements in college, was if you had an immune deficiency problem, you were not to touch the snakes in the reptile lab. Baby chicks in the bird lab were treated the same way.

 

[pony148]

Wow, thanks for that. I find that to be an interesting study as well. thanks for the info.

 

[Gonzo]

You can pick it up from other critters too, Thats why they have hand wash stations at petting zoos. Just use good sense, and wash your hands with soap & water and you'll be fine.