Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pips&peeps]

The person on facebook that said they were going to cull their entire flock is poorly educated about Salmonella. They have had their birds since last year and there is zero validity for their post. Just like dogs and cats get fleas, all chickens carry salmonella, not just the ones from Mt. Healthy. Everyone needs to take the proper precautions when handling animals or eating animal products. If someone wants to consume raw eggs, they are doing so at their own risk. Most people have pretty good immunity to small quantities of Salmonella, but feeding undercooked egg or meats products to children, the elder, or the immunocompromised is negligent in my opinion.

If your birds aren't sick and you are washing your hands, I wouldn't worry about it.

No, all chickens do not carry salmonella and the particular strain is bad.

 

[FamFitz]

The person on facebook that said they were going to cull their entire flock is poorly educated about Salmonella. They have had their birds since last year and there is zero validity for their post. Just like dogs and cats get fleas, all chickens carry salmonella, not just the ones from Mt. Healthy. Everyone needs to take the proper precautions when handling animals or eating animal products. If someone wants to consume raw eggs, they are doing so at their own risk. Most people have pretty good immunity to small quantities of Salmonella, but feeding undercooked egg or meats products to children, the elder, or the immunocompromised is negligent in my opinion.

If your birds aren't sick and you are washing your hands, I wouldn't worry about it.

Wash your hands and you should be fine. Much more likely to get sick with it from chicken bought from the grocery store. Just keep things clean and cook it thoroughly. Issue with chicks and salmonella is mostly with kids and not washing their hands before touching their face.

Thanks for the input! =]

Just to clarify: Would eating an egg cooked over-easy have the same risks if the egg were from my flock or the grocery store?

 

[CarolynF]

Quote:
Agreed -- Not all chickens carry salmonella.
If you want to know if your flock is clear a fecal test can be done by a vet.

Salmonella can be introduced in many ways. Not only chickens carry Salmonella, but also dogs, cats, other pets, wild critters, and people. According to the research I've done, of the over 200 strains of Salmonella only 2 or 3 are seriously harmful to people. So if you and your family continue to wash your hands, don't put your hands in your mouth and eyes, etc. you're probably going to be fine. Practicing good bio-security with your flock is also important.

That being said, if I'd bought chicks this year I knew were from a hatchery known to be selling infected birds, I would probably replace them. Peace of mind is worth something to me and it would always linger in the back of my mind. But year old birds --not unless we'd been getting sick a lot. If I were cooking for people with low immunity I'd want to be more careful, too. Personally, I ate enough dirt as a kid to be immune to a LOT of germs!

Here's something encouraging I found this morning:
Probiotics and other additives: The use of probiotics is becoming more and more popular and proves to be a useful tool in the fight against Salmonella infections. In recent research work we (Avila L.F et all 2011; Soncini R. et all 2011; Herich R. et all 2010) showed the beneficial use of this option. Besides probiotics, the continued use of organic acids remains to be another alternative in a prevention program.

So, all you conscientious chicken folks using unfiltered ACV are doing good things. I make and use probiotics (Lactobacillus Serum) following the techniques found at The Unconventional Farmer.

 

[ochochicas]

My bad. I meant to say they *can* carry salmonella and never get sick.

It is just upsetting that someone on Facebook is creating a frenzy saying they have to cull 150 birds because they got some from Mt. Healthy last year. It is an imagination gone wild.

 

[pips&peeps]

I personally would cull the birds knowing they had a high probability of carrying that strain of salmonella.

 

[FamFitz]

That being said, if I'd bought chicks this year I knew were from a hatchery known to be selling infected birds, I would probably replace them. Peace of mind is worth something to me and it would always linger in the back of my mind. But year old birds --not unless we'd been getting sick a lot. If I were cooking for people with low immunity I'd want to be more careful, too. Personally, I ate enough dirt as a kid to be immune to a LOT of germs!

I personally would cull the birds knowing they had a high probability of carrying that strain of salmonella.

If I 100% knew I had chickens from Mt. Healthy I might be inclined for piece of mind. But I don't know which of the 16 I have - If any at all - might be from there. And I don't know how to find out since I got my flock from several different feed stores over the course of several weeks. Culling all of them just because 1 or 2 *might* be from there seems cruel, not to mention just not financially feasible. I hate to think that my time as a chicken owner is over before I even get my 1st egg.

 

[Hinotori]

Call the feed stores and see where they get their chicks. Dels uses Privett mostly. Graham Hay Market uses Privett as well.

 

[ochochicas]

Four of my pullets rolling around in the dirt today. They are eight weeks old. They must have stayed in the dirt for at least an hour. Hilarious!

 

[Hinotori]

Four of my pullets rolling around in the dirt today. They are eight weeks old. They must have stayed in the dirt for at least an hour. Hilarious!

They look like they are in heaven

 

[CharMac76]

Well I have a leak in the coop. It was pouring raining last night also, so I had to bring the girls back into the spare bathroom. It'll be fixed in a couple of days, but it was kind of a bummer. I also saw that the chicks have two tiny four-footed friends. They were gone this morning but I obviously have a few gaps to fill. The end is in sight!