When do chicks stop carrying salmonella?

[vicky1212123]

ok so i have 8 quail. two are 4 weeks, three are 3 weeks, and 3 are 1.5 weeks. Will teh older chicks still be salmonella carriers? When do they grow out of carrying salmonella? i am in contact with their poop quite a bit but i was my hands

 

[Pyxis]

Not all chickens/quail have salmonella. Have you had yours tested and they came back positive? If they do have it they don't grow out of it, all age birds can carry it. Additionally, quail eggs don't contain salmonella like chicken eggs can.

 

[Dom'sHEns]

I don't know much about quail...

However for chickens salmonella is commonly part of there normal gut flora and not harmful to the chickens, in fact it may be beneficial. Also eggs are always free of salmonella, unless contaminted by chicken poop containing salmonella.

Just wash you hands after handlelng the birds or their poop. Eggs that are contaminated with poop should be washed before cracked open.

Dom

 

[Pyxis]

I don't know much about quail...

However for chickens salmonella is commonly part of there normal gut flora and not harmful to the chickens, in fact it may be beneficial.   Also eggs are always free of salmonella, unless contaminted by chicken poop containing salmonella. 

Just wash you hands after handlelng the birds or there poop. Eggs that are contaminated with poop should be washed before cracked open. 

Dom 

This is not true. Salmonella can actually infect the ovaries of a chicken hen and it actually infects the egg before the shell is even formed over it. That's why they say you don't eat things like raw brownie batter when you use store bought eggs to make it - cooking kills the salmonella but eating it raw puts you at risk.

This same thing doesn't happen in quail, however, because their eggs contain an increased amount of lysozyme, which is harmful to bacteria.

 

[Dom'sHEns]

This is not true. Salmonella can actually infect the ovaries of a chicken hen and it actually infects the egg before the shell is even formed over it. That's why they say you don't eat things like raw brownie batter when you use store bought eggs to make it - cooking kills the salmonella but eating it raw puts you at risk.

This same thing doesn't happen in quail, however, because their eggs contain an increased amount of lysozyme, which is harmful to bacteria.

Pyxis,

I stand corrected, very interesting, I did not know this. Seems more research needs to be done on the subject.
I am placing this here for the OP to review, cited source below. -Dom



Studies comparing invasion of the serotypes Enteritidis and Typhimurium in ovarian follicles in vitro yielded conflicting results (Howard et al., 2005; Mizumoto et al., 2005). Based on the fact that systemic spread is a characteristic of most Salmonella serotypes, it is believed that ovarian colonization is not a specific trait allowing the serotype Enteritidis to contaminate eggs. However, the possibility that SE has a specific ability to interact and invade the preovulatory follicles cannot be ruled out. A large-scale study using multiple strains from different Salmonella serotypes should be carried out in order to provide more information regarding the serotype specificity of ovarian colonization and persistence. High levels of nutrients are available to bacteria invading ovarian follicles. Therefore, it is to be expected that this should lead to extensive replication of the bacteria, almost inevitably resulting in follicular degeneration. Because this is not a common phenomenon in naturally infected laying hens, as the laying percentage is usually not reduced, follicle colonization is not believed to be an important source of egg contamination, although this is under debate.


Furthermore,
Albumen or shell membrane contamination would occur when Salmonella colonizes the upper oviduct. According to Keller et al. (1995), the infection of the forming egg occurs at this site, before eggshell deposition. Indeed, after oral infection with SE, about one-third of the forming eggs were positive compared with 0.6% of the freshly laid eggs (Keller et al., 1995). This reduction clearly suggests that antibacterial factors within the albumen can exert a degree of control of SE in forming eggs.

Cited source.
Gantois, I., Ducatelle, R., Pasmans, F., Haesebrouck, F., Gast, R., Humphrey, T. J. and Van Immerseel, F. (2009), Mechanisms of egg contamination by Salmonella Enteritidis. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 33: 718–738. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00161.x

 

[vicky1212123]

Thanks everyone. I feel aloty better but I'm still washing my hands ( in case anyone was wondering I am a hypochondriac so i kinda had a panic attack lol)