Chicken People should read this

[Farmfresh]

Commercial growers REGULARLY get sick from their flocks.

The get Farmer's lung "Farmer's lung is a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis, also known as extrinsic allergic alveolitis, is an immunologically mediated inflammatory disease of the lung involving the terminal airways. The condition is associated with intense or repeated exposure to inhaled biologic dusts. The classic presentation of farmer's lung results from inhalational exposure to thermophilic Actinomyces species and occasionally from exposure to various Aspergillus species." click for more

They get chemical pneumonia from being exposed to high levels of ammonia. Many professional farmer's these days are also developing allergies to antibiotics.

Things that make you go HMMM.

I have seen a few sick chickens in my day and I think bio-security and quarantine should be used by all animal owners whether big or small. NPIP is just another level of security. No it won't stop all disease transmissions. Wild bird populations are carriers and in many cases insects are vectors. Everything that you do just helps.

However we are all better off with a couple of chickens in EACH backyard than we are with industrialized farming with tens of thousands of birds in each unit.

 

[Wifezilla]

In Food Inc one of the commercial chicken growers had become allergic to all antibiotics due to exposure to the medicated feed and the stuff they sprayed.

Yes it is possible for small time animal raiders to spread disease, but commercial growers are using back yard chicken owners as scapegoats. Normal diseases that do not cause issues in a health flock are big disasters to commercial growers because their chickens are so immune compromised due to the way they are raised.

 

[valmom]

Yes it is possible for small time animal raiders to spread disease, but commercial growers are using back yard chicken owners as scapegoats..

That was my first thought reading the original post. It can (and probably will) become a reason to take away backyard chickens whenever the government or industry decides it is advantageous to do so.

 

[patandchickens]

Commercial growers REGULARLY get sick from their flocks. <snip> Farmer's lung "Farmer's lung is a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. <snip> chemical pneumonia from being exposed to high levels of ammonia. Many professional farmer's these days are also developing allergies to antibiotics.

That is certainly true but note that this is not getting sick from chicken diseases passed to humans -- it is getting sick from the environment the chickens are kept in. (Dander, mold, dust, ammonia, etc)

The only substantial health risk to humans in terms of diseases passed from chickens is the "food poisoning type bacteria" - Salmonella, Campylobacter, pathogenic E Coli strains, etc. Which are reeeallly not unique to chickens, they are all over in the environment, although of course moreso in chicken poo than some other places and the filthier and more crowded your coop is, the more likely they are to be problems.

commercial growers are using back yard chicken owners as scapegoats.

Yes exactly

Pat

 

[Farmfresh]

Commercial growers REGULARLY get sick from their flocks. <snip> Farmer's lung "Farmer's lung is a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. <snip> chemical pneumonia from being exposed to high levels of ammonia. Many professional farmer's these days are also developing allergies to antibiotics.

That is certainly true but note that this is not getting sick from chicken diseases passed to humans -- it is getting sick from the environment the chickens are kept in. (Dander, mold, dust, ammonia, etc) Pat

Aspergillus is a poultry disease that humans contract.

You are right about the environmental conditions however. Chances of a person with a backyard flock catching that disease is very slight, since it is contracted by inhaling airborne particulate.

Wifezilla "Normal diseases that do not cause issues in a health flock are big disasters to commercial growers because their chickens are so immune compromised due to the way they are raised."

Anytime you house more that 100 birds in a coop they are subject to immune system compromise. They have had industry studies for YEARS (since the 40's) that proved that. At that level you achieve the possibility of a disease causing a total flock wipe-out and it becoming truly a dangerous situation for people. With our antibiotics propped up system, that number seems ridiculously low.

 

[patandchickens]

Aspergillus is a poultry disease that humans contract.

No, sorry, Aspergillus is a MOLD, inhalation of the spores of which can cause the disease aspergillosis, in both humans and poultry. Google it for more.

You don't catch it from the chickens; you and/or the chickens catch it from mold in the henhouse.

Pat

 

[tortoise]

So we all agree that bird diseases affect humans. But sticking your head in the sand and saying your "$%&* don't stink" because you haven't seen (smelled) it yet.

Small flocks are not IMMUNE from disease. They are equally as CAPABLE of carrying disease. There is POTENTIAL for small flocks to become ill or disease carriers. There is good reason to protect your flock from disease.

The article has nothing to do with commercial flocks. Disease from small home flocks HAS had an impact on INTERNATIONAL trade.

Do you want to be the person responsible for it?

 

[lwheelr]

There are several strains of aspergillus. Some are not harmful. One strain is cultured in kefir - the same strain used for producing commercial lactase enzyme. Another strain is used in making beer.

There are also over 2000 strains of salmonella, and many strains of e Coli. Most are not harmful - in fact, most of them live comfortably in our intestines, and some help us digest food. There are only a few strains of harmful salmonella, and a couple of harmful e Coli strains.

Under normal conditions, we are exposed to the mildly harmful strains, which helps our immune system recognize the harmful salmonella and e Coli groups. We are also exposed to small amounts of the more harmful strains, which strengthens our immune systems and generally keeps us from getting seriously ill from them.

In the modern world, those elements are missing - people are rarely exposed to the variety of salmonella and e Coli strains that are not serious, and when they are exposed to a harmful one, it is in huge amounts, so it knocks them down with a nasty infection.

The combination of factory farming (where harmful pathogens are concentrated - and which are conducive to the formation of super-bugs), factory processing (where large scale contaminations of masses of food at one time are possible), and long transit times (where a small contamination has time to incubate into a large one), means that if we are exposed to a pathogen from commercial food sources, it is not AT ALL the same as being exposed from food grown on our own farm.

On the small farm, food is produced in a more natural environment, handled in small batches, and is moved quickly from field or pasture to table.

Research has shown that farm raised kids are less likely to have allergies and are sick less often than city raised kids. Much of that has to do with regular exposure to a normal compliment of good and bad germs, in normal concentrations which produce a strong and balanced immune system.

Many fowl diseases are the same way - the backyard risks and the factory farm risks are distinctly different. In normal circumstances, a backyard flock may be hit, and one or two chickens may be lost, then it dies out and goes away. In a factory farm situation, the disease not only sweeps through the flock, but has time enough to mutate and become more virulent or antibiotic resistant, etc, plus it is likely to spread to the factory farm down the road where it continues to mutate.

I don't think there is a magic number where a flock becomes more risky than another. A lot has to do with HOW you are raising them. 100 chickens in tight confinement on commercial rations is quite different than 100 pasture or large pen raised chickens fed a whole diet of grains, greens, and grubs straight from the field.

I won't immunize for everything. But I do think that wise immunization can be of value, especially for those selling hatching eggs, chicks, or breeding stock (where you have an obligation to protect the flocks and family of your buyers). We have specific criteria for selecting which vaccinations to use, based on reasonable risk of contraction, mortality rate, visibility of symptoms, transmission to chicks or through eggs, and virulency (including transmitability to humans).

We will be NPIP certified - simply because there are things you can't do without it. But I will never trust it to mean anything when I am buying stock.

 

[Wifezilla]

I am at more risk of catching a disease from my cats or the neighbor's dogs. If individuals having animals is such a risk will cats and dogs be outlawed too? No, it will just be the poultry owners because big ag doesn't like you and me being able to produce our own food.

Gvmnt allows factory farms to run they way they do for a reason. Anything that threatens that model will be squashed like a bug. Health doesn't have a darn thing to do with it. It's all about power, money and control.

People being independent and self sufficient is an enormous threat to them.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

People just need to leave my chickens alone.

If everyone runs around in a paranoid state because omg they might get sick from a pet chicken, but then they kiss their dog who licks its own butt................