If you have backyard chickens – or are considering a flock – then you’ve probably heard or read of the negative aspects of having a few birds in your backyard. – They’re nosiy, they carry germs, they stink, they’re hard to take care of…
To a few folks – all of those concerns or complaints – could be true to some degree, but in my opinion a small urban flock of hens takes about as much effort – or less – than a dog. If you don’t have a rooster, then you’ll hear an occasional loud bawk to announce when an egg has been laid, but that’s a lot quieter than an annoying dog that yelps at anything. If you spend a few minutes a week keeping the coop and run clean, then smell won’t be a factor.
Germs? Yes they can carry germs… I found this out personally this year when I became infected with the bacteria Campylobacter. I feel strongly that I should share my experience in hopes that others out there will heed my advice and avoid the awful illness I succumbed to. I’m not doing this to scare anyone from having chickens, I just want to stress the point that – as with any pet – keeping things clean and practicing simple hand hygiene will keep you and your flock in good health.
I’ve been a critical care nurse in a large hospital for almost 30 years. I’ve taken care of the sickest patients, dealt with deadly germs, handled countless infected bodily fluids, and never have contracted an infection from an ill patient. Why – because at work I’m clean. I couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of examine gloves we go through a day in the unit. Washing hands with soap and water or using hand sanitizer before and after patient care isn’t just recommended – it’s required. An infection can easily be spread between immunocompromised patients by a staff member going from room to room without doing the simple task of washing their hands. We actually have a hired employee whose only job is to monitor hand washing!
However, when I leave my job and return to my country home, I realized the hard way – that I don’t follow the same rules of cleanliness… I do keep the coop bedded down with fresh straw and eggs are gathered daily from tidy nesting boxes – but I don’t routinely wash my hands after touching my hens or their eggs. My flock free ranges and I don’t remove my shoes every time I enter my home. I didn’t think too much of my daily routine, but there is a pretty good chance that a healthy appearing backyard chicken could be harboring a potentially harmful bacteria.
Here is the breakdown of my illness:
Day 1 – General body aches, some nausea.
Day 2 – Body aches, terrible headache, fever 103.4°F, some diarrhea.
At this point my husband dragged me to urgent care at my protest. I think the fever had overcome me and I was telling God that I had lived a good life, my daughters were grown and I was ready to die. They ran a lot of tests and cultures and sent me home with a diagnoses of a probable bacterial infection, but I would have wait until culture results were finalized.
Day 3 – Continued body aches and fever 102°F.
Day 4 – My cultures were confirmed as Campylobacter. I began having excruciating abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea every 15 minutes for 18 hours!! I asked my doctor if I could please take something to stop this hell. The answer: no – the bacteria has to get out of your system. If you try to stop the process you could end up with toxic megacolon. I think at this point the only thing that kept me out of the ER was the fact that I didn’t experience vomiting. I was able to keep myself hydrated until this nightmare finally ended.
Day 5-7 – Weakness and feeling like my insides had been ripped out…
It took an entire month for my GI tract to get back to normal and hopefully I’ve developed some sort of immunity to this bacteria, but the whole thing might have been avoided if I practiced what I knew to be safe practices around backyard chickens. – Keep things clean, wash your hands, and don’t bring items that might be contaminated into your home.
Definition – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Campylobacter. Most people who become ill with campylobacteriosis get diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever within two to five days after exposure to the organism. The diarrhea may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
Transmission – Minnesota Department of Health
Infections are often associated with international travel, undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, untreated water, and contact with farm animals. Eating undercooked chicken or other food that has been contaminated with juices dripping from raw chicken is the most frequent source of this infection.
It is common for chickens, ducks, and other poultry to carry Campylobacter. The bacteria can live naturally in the intestines of poultry and many other animals and can be passed in their droppings or feces. Even organically fed poultry can become infected with Campylobacter. This bacteria was found on 47% of raw chicken samples bought in grocery stores and tested through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). While these organisms rarely make the birds sick, they can cause serious illness when passed to people.
The germs (from fecal droppings) can spread to cages, coops, bedding, plants, and soil in the area where the birds live, and to the hands, shoes, and clothing of those who care for them. People become infected with Campylobacter when they put their hands or other things that have been in contact with the birds or their environment in or around their mouth. Young children are especially at risk for illness because they are more likely than others to put their fingers or other items into their mouths and because their immune systems are still developing.
Outcome – CDC
Most people who get campylobacteriosis recover completely within two to five days, although sometimes recovery can take up to 10 days. Rarely, Campylobacter infection results in long-term consequences. Some people develop arthritis.
In the 30 years I have worked in an intensive care unit, I have never cared for a patient with an active campylobacter infection. I have, however, seen cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome. This is an autoimmune disease that affects the nerves of the body beginning several weeks after the diarrheal illness. This occurs when a person’s immune system is “triggered” to attack the body’s own nerves resulting in paralysis. The paralysis usually lasts several weeks and requires intensive medical care. It is estimated that approximately one in every 1,000 reported Campylobacter illnesses leads to Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Usually the illness runs its course without treatment. When I presented to the urgent care with a extremely high fever and lab work suggesting a bacterial infection, I was started on an antibiotic, Levaquin. This antibiotic might have lessen the length of my illness, but resistance to fluoroquinolones (Levaquin, Cipro) is common.
Prevention – CDC
- Cook all poultry products thoroughly. Make sure that the meat is cooked throughout (no longer pink) and any juices run clear. All poultry should be cooked to reach a minimum internal temperature of 165°F.
- If you are served undercooked poultry in a restaurant, send it back for further cooking.
- Wash hands with soap before preparing food.
- Wash hands with soap after handling raw foods of animal origin and before touching anything else.
- Prevent cross-contamination in the kitchen by using separate cutting boards for foods of animal origin and other foods and by thoroughly cleaning all cutting boards, countertops, and utensils with soap and hot water after preparing raw food of animal origin.
- Do not drink unpasteurized milk or untreated surface water.
- Make sure that persons with diarrhea, especially children, wash their hands carefully and frequently with soap to reduce the risk of spreading the infection.
- Wash hands with soap after contact with pet (including chicken) feces.
Although I could have contracted the illness from a restaurant, both the infectious disease doctor that I work with and my local health department, thought the odds were pretty high that I was exposed to the bacteria from my free ranging flock.
My Plan
Make a larger enclosed run for my flock. I love watching my flock free range, but I am tired of the mess of chicken poop everywhere!
Have shoes / boots dedicated to caring for the flock. Get in the habit of taking off my shoes when entering the house.
Gather eggs daily from clean nesting boxes. If the eggs are clean, then I do not wash them, but cook them thoroughly. I will wash my hands after gathering or handling eggs. For more information on washing or storing eggs, visit this site: Safe Handling of Eggs from Small and Backyard Flocks – Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky
My Advice –
To view what else is happening at our Southwest Missouri property visit: the garden-roof coop
If you enjoy bird-watching (in addition to chicken-watching), I invite you to follow my Facebook page: Rebecca’s Bird Gardens
25 Comments
My son and I recently had campylobacter!!!! My son was given antibiotics because he was pooping so much blood but bounces back right after. I was told to let mine run its course, and oh my word, it was a rough week for me. Uncontrollable chills and hot flashes which came with my body tensing up like crazy. Bloody diarrhea (tmi) vomiting and 104.7 fever. My vet told me to maybe put some chlorine in my chickens water to help cure them. Were you told this at all by anyone? I don’t want to hurt my birds! Thanks!
Hi Carrie,
Chlorinating drinking water for chickens is a relatively common practice in industrial/commercial chicken facilities. But this is a very very specifically controlled and monitored process. Personally, I’d be hesitant to just dump some chlorine in my chickens drinking water without doing some serious research into appropriate amounts. That said, I did some digging and spoke with the University of Minnesota extension office who shared this information with me: Routinely chlorinating poultry drinking water to at least 1 to 1.5 parts per million of free chlorine level reduces the spread of salmonella.
You can also check with your local water treatment plant to see if they chlorinate your drinking water (also a routine practice).
I’m so sorry that you and your son were so ill and hope that you’ve both recovered well. Let us know what happens with your birds!!
Thanks for sharing your information. Too bad more people don’t find out about what’s going on with pet chickens beforehand. My son is recovering from this disease, terrible/terrible, from caring for their recent acquired chickens . A hard lesson.
I feel you are making a conclusion, without merit. I am 64 years old and have been around chickens free range and cage most of my life and have never had anything like that and I promise you, that when I was growing up people did not wash their hands, often, like we do now. I would be looking else where for the reason for your illness. Not saying we shouldn’t was our hands and I always wash my meat I get from the store before preparing also.
Wash those melons and fruit prior to cutting,ones bought from store. Was sick with campy for month, intensive care with renal shutdown from dehydration. Begged to die, haha no one would take me. Lesson learned. But my chickens are awesome.
Your right Lois, probably more things that can kill you from buying groceries at the supermarket, than what you’ll ever get from the farm!
I agree, I always did and wondered why others didn’t, since what ever is on the outside is going to be on the inside as the knife penetrates.
Campylobacter is found most often in food, particularly in chicken. Food is contaminated when it comes into contact with animal feces. http://www.foodborneillness.com/campylobacter_food_poisoning/
I have had this twice! And I am so good about washing my hands regularly. I was so sick that I had to have an ambulance take me to the ER, which I have never done in my life. The ER couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, had to culture my stool, which showed the “Campy” bacteria. This really is an awful and painful bacteria.
I have had this twice! And I am so good about washing my hands regularly. I was so sick that I had to have an ambulance take me to the ER, which I have never done in my life. The ER couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, had to culture my stool, which showed the “Campy” bacteria. This really is an awful and painful bacteria.
I would not assume the birds GAVE you the campylobacter. Sorry to hear about your illness – but you got sick from a human food source NOT your birds.
You were far far far more likely to get the bacteria from other humans and human food sources. PLEASE do not just blame your chickens for “making” you sick. Do you have cats and dogs? They are the most likely culprits – not the birds. Do your cats and dogs live in your house? So, it’s OK for feces from dogs and cats to enter your house – but anything from the chickens is taboo? Twaddle.
Facts:
Dog and cat feces health risks: toxoplasmosis, hookworm, campylobacter and MRSA contaminated pet toys (23% of houses had contaminated pet toys, NSF). This NSF study is corroborated by the CDC, “MRSA strains isolated from household pets typically are prevalent human strains that likely were acquired from human contacts” (CDC).
Other household pets are far more likely to carry contamination into the house (cats using the litter box and walking all over the counters and tables) for example. How many people panic at the idea of hugging a chicken but let a feces contaminated cat run all over the house!?
Please visit the CDC page for accurate facts on disease vectors. People are the #1 source of disease. If you do not “like” chickens- don’t spread prejudice and stereotype about these beautiful animals. Just don’t keep them. Food borne illness is the most prevalent source of compylobacter folks – NOT LIVING CHICKENS!
FACTS:
Humans as significant human-disease risks – Studies by independent labs and the NSF conclude that humans provide the most significant source of disease-causing organisms – including salmonella (the kind that causes disease in humans), coliform (in 81% of, most likely non-poultry keeping, houses tested) and e-coli.
Food-borne outbreaks – 1 in 5 or 6 humans contract illness from food. There has been some “to-do” about hatchery chicks and bacteria. Well, folks look at these numbers. I am using a “loose” collective from the CDC as numbers are fairly consistent.
Live poultry – out of roughly 50 million chicks hatched (CDC, 2011) only 96 reported cases of salmonella. In 2013 (CDC), reports of 158 cases of poultry linked salmonella. Yes, it is that low.
Additional fact: It would take 50,000 salmonella cells to sicken a healthy chicken. It takes 10 of these cells to sicken a chronically stressed bird.
Human food cases (CDC 2006 -2010): outbreaks of salmonella and other organisms leading to 23 deaths – 29, 444. Let me rephrase that – 29, 444.
The CDC estimates that food-borne cases of salmonella are hovering around 1.2 million cases (not 158!).
I may never go out to eat again, but I am sure going to kiss those chickens!!! I’ve been kissing chickens and eating WITH them for over 40 years. Stop spreading the myth that they cause disease – they DO NOT. If you hate birds – don’t keep them. But don’t spread fear-mongering that only leads to more animal abuse and cruelty. This is reckless.
Thanks for the info!
I’m definitely not getting rid of my chickens! – I love my flock.
I got my facts from the CDC and I’m not trying to cause a scare. – My flock free ranges and I wasn’t in the habit of washing my hands or taking off my shoes before entering the house. Just trying to remind folks to wash their hands – …and love their chickens…
Good article.
So what about the practice of letting them into your garden? usually I do this at the end of season, letting them pick at and stir up whatever is left. IS this not ok?
Of course let them into your garden!
Just wash your hands, wash your food, cook your food, change your shoes.
Love your chickens!!
Just follow good hygiene practices and wash everything well.
Good article! Thanks so much for the helpful info.
Hoo boy. Thank you for this excellent reminder. My partner had a stem cell transplant one year ago and we were maniacs about sanitation for a long time but I’ve found myself slipping into simpler routines with my free range flock. Since I was diagnosed with campylobacter about 20 years ago I know the hell of which you speak. Can you imagine I was 3 hours away from home when it hit! What a nightmare trip it was to get back to Atlanta from the mountains of North Carolina, stopping to poop every 15 to 30 minutes, bleeding from the gut, and in agony. Then I was prescribed erythromycin that gave me hives!!! Oh lordie. Worst 2 weeks of my life.
Thank you! A great reminder. I try hard to take my boots off and my hubby and I have been trying very hard to usetge kutxhen door when dealing with the animals. We have chickens and a pig. We also put down plastic runner from the other door to the kitchen in case we forget and another section from the kitchen to the bathroom. But I admit, I am not as good at washing my hands as I should be.
I understand the message about eggs/chickens/poop, etc. (Our homestead fenced chickens & yards separate from each other-unlike modern day “backyard” suburban “pet” chickens.) But let’s not bring MILK into this discussion, since unpasturized (“raw”) milk from pasture raised cows is SAFER than pastuirzed milk can ever be. (Due to beneficial bacteria in raw milk-which is destroyed by pasturization!)
Thank you for sharing this information! My family and I really have enjoyed taking care of and raising our chickens. We have only had them for a few years now and seem to be learning new things all of the time. It definitely never hurts to have a reminder like this and to review our practices.
According to the CDC, “Most cases of campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items. Outbreaks of Campylobacter have most often been associated with unpasteurized dairy products, contaminated water, poultry, and produce. ” Notice the difference between “most cases” and “outbreaks”. I only post to differentiate between cases and outbreak. It is challenging, if not impossible, to know with certainty where 1 case arose from because the sample size is too small.
Thank you for the very informational article.
I wrote a couple books on raising chickens and poultry and was not aware of this bacterial infection, although I have always washed hands between contact and used separate boots for the coops, removed at the doorway of my house. I also did not allow others contact with my coops.
I am sure I never, in all the years, contacted any such disease, but I am glad.
I will now remember to include this caution when I update books or upon communications with others.
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this Rebecca.
We just started keeping chickens and was not aware of these health issues.
Don’t know how we never contracted the germs?
We started out with a doz 1 day Olds early in spring, it was too cold up here in Ontario Canada to have them stay outside in the coop. So they were raised in my office in the basement of our home. And yes there was dust & dander everywhere!
Until now I rarely washed my hands after dealing with the birds, and like you very often do not remove my shoes when entering in the house to grab something quick.
BUT! That all about to change ASAP.
Thanks for the good read and great advice!
Wishing you great farming in the spring to come.
Andre Blanchard
Ontario, Canada
I use disposable gloves and a mask (you can breathe in dehydrated droppings which are still dangerous) when cleaning out the coop, which I do every few days. I also clean up the chicken “yard” of straw and droppings, which are heat composted under a dark tarp before being used in the garden. I have clogs in a plastic tray by the back door that leads to the chicken compound. They are the only clogs I wear when tending the chickens. I only wash eggs that might not be clean when gathered before putting in the fridge. I use a chlorine solution to clean the girls’ water and food dishes. I use paper plates for their daily treats. And, yes, I wash my hands faithfully as soon as I come in the house. Also, my dishwasher sanitizes in case there is any transmission in the kitchen. Finally, because my dogs traverse a section between my back door and chicken compound, which can be muddy when wet weather abounds, I use a chlorine solution to wash my kitchen floors.
Bacterial infections are often more deadly when we live in a sterile environment. My late father, a physician, believed it was so important to not over-sanitize life in order to keep your immune system active. I agree with that 100%. I have a healthy gut, which is important for immune function. Also, I haven’t taken antibiotics in years. They can be so unhealthy in the long run. When I need a boost I take a Berberine supplement, which is a natural alkaloid found in many plants (any plant that is yellow under the bark such as Nandina, Oregon Grape, Goldenseal and many others, with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing properties.