In the News: Backyard Chickens Dangerous!

[DoodleRoo]

https://www.statnews.com/2017/10/19/backyard-chicken-disease/

I was a bit annoyed by this article (linked now on Drudge), stating that you can easily get disease from your Backyard Chickens, and to never treat them as pets, but to instead treat them like every one is diseased ... What do you guys think?

 

[featherfella]

I think that this article is abnoxious and is simply an attempt to turn people away from raising chickens. Chickens are lovely animals that are so harmless, and generally carry no diseases.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I saw/heard about that awhile back, didn't think much about it. We can get sick going outside, just another "paranoid" clean freak. Ofcourse we all know to wash our hands after handling anything, yea right. That person probably never let her kids play in the dirt To each their own....

 

[MasAhora]

Well I for one am running out into my yard and getting rid of all my chickens!!!!
I didn't know that there was only one way to contract salmonella poisoning.

Wait, what? ... there is apparently more than one way?!?! Holy Moly!!!!



https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/salmonella/index.html

• Food: Contaminated eggs, poultry, meat, unpasteurized milk or juice, cheese, contaminated raw fruits and vegetables (alfalfa sprouts, melons), spices, and nuts
• Animals and their environment: Particularly reptiles (snakes, turtles, lizards), amphibians (frogs), birds (baby chicks) and pet food and treats.

How on earth did mankind survive this long?

 

[The Moonshiner]

I've seen this article a few times now. Once before on BYC.
My thoughts are that what they say is true and that every time it comes up some chicken owners get all bent out of shape and start reading things into it which it isn't stating at all.
All its doing is giving a warning and saying to be aware of the risk and take precautions.
No way do I see it as trying to bash chicken owning, to turn people off to owning them, saying they're all disease ridden creatures or anything of the such.
Idk people want to get so defensive when they read it.

 

[chickendreams24]

Lol.

Okay okay in all seriousness I'm sorry people have died from salmonella and from a great host of other things as well.

That being said we have been raising our own chickens for several years now start to finish hatching brooding raising collecting eggs and yes processing and eating them. We've never gotten sick. Not once.

I'm asthmatic if someone were going to get it I'm sure it would probably be me. The majority of our chickens I would consider cleaner than most of the people I know. Yep that's right. We live in a farm community many people only have boots that they wear for chores etc. Many people can be seen eating in clothes they just milked cows in too(which is a very poopy job sometimes). They do usually wash their hands of course first.

Yes we brood chicks in the house/porch. We've had ill or injured adult birds also in the house.

While I am generally pretty good about hand washing etc. I do admit that I sometimes forget.

While I do think they can be carriers I think most people have an immune system that can handle that. I admit I kiss my chickens obviously not if I've just seen them do something gross or if their beak is visibly dirty. We free range so they love to play in the mud and dirt.

Sadly so many people nowadays are germaphobes and clean freaks. It's helped create super bugs. If people constantly take antibiotics and use sanitizer and such their bodies develop less natural immunity.

I'm not against antibiotics I just think that you should let your body try to figure it first.

So again I'm sorry some people died but it's very frustrating that they're just blaming his on backyard flocks.

The only time I ever got food poisoning was from a big name fast food chain.

My father's wife won't eat our eggs bc "they're dirty". My DH2B's sister won't eat our eggs bc they are "too fresh, dirty, and came from a chickens butt".

How many of the cases of salmonella and other illnesses have they actually tracked down and proven were caused by back yard flocks? I doubt there's many. Even fewer when the massive rise in back yard flocks has been taken into account.

This seems like someone afraid of the world and afraid of germs trying to scare others. I don't think that serious chicken keepers will give this another thought and I don't really think most people would consider getting rid of their flocks based on this article but if could make people considering chickens change their minds out of fear.

 

[chickendreams24]

That all being said I do agree with The Moonshiner above that it is important to be informed and take natural healthy precautions when dealing with any animal or person.

This could be the only purpose of this article but I do think many people chicken owners and none chicken owners alike could easily read more into it.

 

[Parront]

Thank you for that link, it was an interesting article, and not all that anti-chicken. In that same story, it mentions a pediatrician who has 50 chickens. In the article it said that one person died from salmonella from backyard chickens, while 300 people died that same year from food-borne salmonella.
I read this article that was linked to the salmonella story: https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/18/superbug-new-model-infection/
It goes into detail about a researcher who is studying why some animals tolerate an infection, and others die from the same infection. We chicken owners have a lot of first-hand experience with this problem -- why does one chicken in a flock get sick, the rest seem healthy. From worms, for example, all the flock is in the same environment, but only one will get sick. Test them, they all have worms, some succumb, others seem healthy.Your seemingly healthy bird when transferred to a new flock gives the new flock something. Lots of examples, and interesting read, and I am glad someone is studying these things!

 

[Rick&chickTampa]

I guess I should stop eating my bologna sandwiches while cleaning the poop trays,

 

[Parront]

I guess I should stop eating my bologna sandwiches while cleaning the poop trays,

You are the reason for the second link above, some get sick, others just keep eating their sandwich while cleaning the coop! Typhoid Mary spread the germs all over, never got sick. From some of those numbers in the salmonella article, you might be able to argue that keeping chickens is keeping the owners from getting sick from the germs!