Salmonella?! What do I do now????

[ValerieJ]

It's true about store-bought food. It's enough to make you be scared to eat out or buy anything in the store! It's a shame of how much food is recalled and wasted due to salmonella, e.coli, and other dangerous stuff found in there such as bits of metal. It makes you wonder what's going to be found next. Store-bought food is getting dangerous, I tell you. It already is with all the cancer-causing artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and GMO's. I am a gardener, and like to grow my own food because I know what is, and what's not on it. If more people were gardeners, the world would be a little healthier.

I'm with you on that one! I have missed having romaine lettuce, but with all the recalls last year I just decided to forgo it. This year I have added it to my garden, which is a long way away from my chickens.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Oh, it was so much worse. It took a full 7-10 days to get back even close to normal. They couldn't control it in the beginning stages, it hit them so fast. The stomach cramping was terrible, also. And there wasn't anything we could do to help them. Just had to let it run it's course.

That sounds just awful. My husband got C-DIFF a few years ago and ended up in isolation within the ICU with similar sounding symptoms and duration. I can't imagine watching my kids being that sick and you're right, aside from trying to keep them hydrated there's not much you can do.

Lots of and

 

[ValerieJ]

We really thought we were doing a good thing! Started to question it after these last few weeks. Hopefully, they are starting to build up their immunity!

I still think you are doing a good thing. It's good for children to learn about chickens or livestock in general. Helping you raise them teaches them responsibility. It's a wonderful idea. Something just went wrong, which I'm sure with all the advice here, will not go wrong again. I don't know if hand washing was the problem, or even if your kids got this from the chickens, but with it being a possibility, they have learned a valuable lesson about hygiene around chickens. There are so many people with chickens in my neck of the woods and no one has ever had salmonella here. I hope you don't give up, even if you need to get rid of these chicks and get new ones. Chickens are great entertainers and give back to the family with delicious eggs. Don't think I could eat a store bought egg now. Good luck! I'm so happy to hear your kids are better. Nothing is worse than watching our children suffer!!!

 

[alexisrambles]

I've had salmonella several times. It's a misery, but I'll tell you that I never stopped handling animals from it. I learned to wash my hands and sometimes my arms and legs too. Kids can get salmonella from lizards as well (I sure did).

It's really not a reason to destroy your personal flock in my opinion. I agree the hatchery should stop selling eggs/chicks from parents who carry that bacteria, because that'll affect a lot of people. But as long as you scramble your eggs and hardboil instead of soft boil, you're more than safe.

Also, I recommend having "coop shoes" and a "coop shirt" if you can. Mine is a big button down I've also used as a painting smock. It gets washed on its own in hot hot water. That way I can love on my chicks and keep my house safe for my immunosuppressed cat. (If it's possible to catch it... she will.)

Also as a note... salmonella shouldn't be in the eggs. It's a bacteria that grows on TOP of the egg shell. So if you use that bleach-dawn-warm water method mentioned above, you're safe. Just throw any cracked eggs as you would with store eggs.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

ate room temperature sprouts once at a sandwich bar in a reputable deli and threw up everything but my memories.

ROFLMBO! Reminds me of a time I lost all that AND my memories... Ate chicken planks from Long John Silver’s and then lost fifteen pounds in a day. The Chief Medical Officer at the FBI (where I worked) wanted to admit me to the hospital. Ever since then I’ve been somewhat of a fanatic for hand washing and only eating fresh, hot chicken...

I’m not giving up my tiny dinosaurs or my fresh eggs. Proper food handling and hygiene are the key to keeping bacteria to a minimum.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Again, salmonella is bacteria not a disease. Chickens don't carry salmonella. Their poop does. It's not the chickens fault, and everything has salmonella. Please don't blame the chickens. I'm sure my chickens have salmonella on them somewhere. I would never consider getting rid of them for being normal. But you do what you need to do to keep your kids safe.

Is it more accurate to say that salmonellosis is the disease caused by the salmonella bacteria? And .... puzzled ... if chickens don't carry the bacteria, how DOES it get into their poop? Thanks. Always curious and wanting to learn!

 

[ValerieJ]

"Also, I recommend having "coop shoes" and a "coop shirt" if you can. Mine is a big button down I've also used as a painting smock. It gets washed on its own in hot hot water. That way I can love on my chicks and keep my house safe for my immunosuppressed cat. "
Absolutely! I'm with you on that. I don't cuddle my chickens, but I definitely handle them. We have no choice but to handle them, so we just need to be hygiene conscious.

 

[alexisrambles]

Is it more accurate to say that salmonellosis is the disease caused by the salmonella bacteria? And .... puzzled ... if chickens don't carry the bacteria, how DOES it get into their poop? Thanks. Always curious and wanting to learn!

This is it as I understand it.

Almost all warm and cold blooded animals CAN carry salmonella. It's a very common bacteria. It's easily picked up by humans but the symptoms in most people are so small the disease is never diagnosed as salmonellosis. Only the old, young, and immunosuppressed tend to have dramatic enough reactions that it is diagnosed as salmonella. Odds are your second child caught it from the first, who may have not washed their hands after using the bathroom. You shed the disease for weeks after you have it.
You can also catch it from not washing your hands after handling pet food. Salmonellosis may have no symptoms.

The bacteria itself is really not a horrible illness. It's pretty easily prevented except in children, old people, and the immunosuppressed. Your chickens are "catching" it and are contagious just like your child is. The utter panic the CDC promotes really muddies the waters here. Now that I think about it, I'm really unsure why they'd recommend the hatchery cull that flock. Isolating the birds for a month or two would allow them to heal and stop shedding the virus. It's impractical but.... possible.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

I still handle lizards to, moving them into my greenhouse for bug-eaters, but it's not like I kiss them or anything.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Is it more accurate to say that salmonellosis is the disease caused by the salmonella bacteria? And .... puzzled ... if chickens don't carry the bacteria, how DOES it get into their poop? Thanks. Always curious and wanting to learn!

It's proper to say they carry salmonella, but many mistakenly think that it's a disease. Salmonellosis is a correct term for salmonella poisoning or salmonella infection. Pretty much everything carries salmonella bacteria in the intestines - including people. We get sick when we ingest it, usually through food.