Hens in the Hood

[urbanlibertarian]

From USAToday:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/safety/story/2011-08-24/Salmonella-traced-to-backyard-chicken-farms/50128844/1

The burgeoning trend of keeping chickens and ducklings in backyard farms may have brought a new problem home to roost: infections with salmonella.

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

Backyard chicken farming has become a popular practice as people try to get closer to food sources.

Twin outbreaks of salmonella linked to chicks and ducklings bought for backyard farms have stricken 92 people in 20 states as of Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

The poultry were traced back to a mail-order hatchery in Ohio. The two outbreak strains, salmonella altona and salmonella johannesburg, have sickened 65 and 27 people respectively. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps and more serious illness in the young and old.

Raising backyard chickens largely for egg production is a growing urban trend among people who want to get closer to their food, but CDC doctors warn that hobbyists may not realize how common it is for poultry to carry dangerous forms of salmonella.

The outbreak is ongoing and began in late February, says Casey Barton Behravesh, a veterinary epidemiologist with the CDC. The most recent person involved got sick on July 30.

The CDC is especially concerned about this outbreak because about 30% of those infected are children younger than 5.

The hatchery associated with the outbreak, Mount Healthy Hatcheries of Mount Healthy, Ohio, has hired a salmonella expert, and testing has found no illness in its breeder flocks, owner Robert O'Hara says. He says the problem might be at one of his suppliers but he has not been able to conclusively trace it back.

Salmonella is common in chicks, he says. "That's been going on since the beginning of time." What's changed is the number of novices raising chickens. "There's been a giant explosion of backyard flocks and unfortunately some people are raising them in their house for a certain period of time. You just can't do that. They're farm animals; they're not pets. Treat them as such."

He also thinks that children are seeing and handling chicks at feed stores which are selling to urban chicken owners and not washing their hands afterward.

With the growing popularity of urban and backyard chickens, it's important for people to know that live poultry can appear to be perfectly healthy and clean yet could be shedding salmonella.

Behravesh agrees the best way to reduce the risk of illness is to wash hands with soap and water after touching live poultry.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/safety/story/2011-08-24/Salmonella-traced-to-backyard-chicken-farms/50128844/1

[Dashing Dan]

I thought this thread was about the University of Delaware football team. 

Go Fighting Blue Hens!

[Garden guy]

I'm more worried about getting deseases from the citizens of this city than poultry...believe me...we carry soo many more deseases to worry about than anything from a chicken...and believe me i've spent enough time with chickens to able to say this....if good practices are kept...all is well...can't say that about humans though...

[Ocklawaha]

Tune to "Oh! Susanna"

I was born down south on a chicken farm near Nashville Tennessee
Weren't nobody there, but a sky full of air, 20 million chickens and me
And then one day, I said hey hey, I think I'll do a little LSD
And that was the day, the glorious day, that I set me chickens free.

OCKLAWAHA

[Garden guy]

Nothing funnier to see than a chicken running...reminds me of the way pheobe ran on "Friends"....just hilarious...

[north miami]

Was out at St Johns Boat Company this morning,Bronson Lamb III place on the river across from Mayport......heard a rooster......was I hearing things??
Sure enough,tucked in the corner of this working waterfront facility is a dandy chicken coop.

[Garden guy]

www.backyardchickens.com....all the info you need...

[peestandingup]

Too bad they won't let us be a bit more self-sufficient for those of us who choose not to eat the chemical laced Frankenfood in the supermarkets put there by your friendly neighbor big industrialized agriculture. Yeah, I guess we can go to Whole Foods & pay up the ass for an organic tomato like its some kind of elitist treat, but shouldn't they all be organic??

Cubans can grow their own food on their land (or abandoned land lots they've commandeered), anywhere (doesn't have to be a farm). Can be right in the city. Yeah, they have to give a lot of it to the Gov for distribution so others can eat (it is a communist country after all), but still. The option here would be nice & we could learn a thing or two from them.

It doesn't seem like our governments wants its people to be too far from their teet & wants us all to be reliant on their system for everything we do. There have been a lot of swat team raids lately on people's farms who are selling raw milk, cheeses & other items. I don't know the exact circumstances surrounding them, but they're def doing it.

So in the end, I think they may give us a chicken or two to shut some people up, but they'll never allow people to be 100% self-sustaining like they should. Watch the documentary Food Inc if you haven't already for an eye opener as to why.

[Garden guy]

Too bad they won't let us be a bit more self-sufficient for those of us who choose not to eat the chemical laced Frankenfood in the supermarkets put there by your friendly neighbor big industrialized agriculture. Yeah, I guess we can go to Whole Foods & pay up the ass for an organic tomato like its some kind of elitist treat, but shouldn't they all be organic??

Cubans can grow their own food on their land (or abandoned land lots they've commandeered), anywhere (doesn't have to be a farm). Can be right in the city. Yeah, they have to give a lot of it to the Gov for distribution so others can eat (it is a communist country after all), but still. The option here would be nice & we could learn a thing or two from them.


It takes about 9 minutes to clean a chicken...from the yard to the oven in 14minutes with herbs and potatoes..mmm good....

It doesn't seem like our governments wants its people to be too far from their teet & wants us all to be reliant on their system for everything we do. There have been a lot of swat team raids lately on people's farms who are selling raw milk, cheeses & other items. I don't know the exact circumstances surrounding them, but they're def doing it.

So in the end, I think they may give us a chicken or two to shut some people up, but they'll never allow people to be 100% self-sustaining like they should. Watch the documentary Food Inc if you haven't already for an eye opener as to why.

[Garden guy]

If you are willing to do the work there are very few yards in jacksonville...other than apartments and condos..that can't be completely self sustaining...I'd be making my own cheese but cows are a bit big for riverside...but other than that i've replaced most all of the plants by veggies and permaculture...add a few bunnies and chicks then you're on your way....how would you like to have a Thyme lawn?...it's a great replacement for grass...

[avs]

I think it is important to point out too, the outbreak came from a hatchery - this too is  a form of industrial farming.  It didn't come from healthy hens foraging in a back yard.  The hens were infected when they arrived.  Too many animals clustered in too close of an area isnt' good and that is where diseases occur.  My 8 hens running around my 1/2 acre in Springfield are still way more safe any store bought eggs coming from God only knows where and exposed to God only knows what.

Same goes for my 2 sweet goats and the milk I get from them.

Roosters are legal in Miami, too, BTW

[Garden guy]

I think it is important to point out too, the outbreak came from a hatchery - this too is  a form of industrial farming.  It didn't come from healthy hens foraging in a back yard.  The hens were infected when they arrived.  Too many animals clustered in too close of an area isnt' good and that is where diseases occur.  My 8 hens running around my 1/2 acre in Springfield are still way more safe any store bought eggs coming from God only knows where and exposed to God only knows what.

Same goes for my 2 sweet goats and the milk I get from them.

Roosters are legal in Miami, too, BTW

You are right about desease coming from battery type breeders...that's why a month of quarentine is good for any bird being introduced to it's new flock..that'll give time to see and clear any problems. Goats?...i need me some goats..lol....what did you say?..you need a few more roosters?....oh i can help you with that...how about a city chicken meet somewhere in jax?...i have'nt met too many keepers...it's nice to know i'm not alone.

[avs]

There are LOTS of underground hen owners in Jax.  I am meeting tons of people who have them.  I want to do an underground coop pictorial.  With the owners in masks standing next to their coops

[Garden guy]

That's a great idea...

[uptowngirl]

LOL- Washing your hands is a good practice, even if you have not touched a chicken all day. Not enough people wash their hands, and not enough parents make their children do it, or do it right. My little one LOVEs her chicks and chickens and is the primary care giver (when  she is not on vacation). She feeds, waters, a loves them. They sit on her lap and fly up on her shoulder. She gathers their eggs and cooks and eats them. She is also the coop cleaner (again when she is not on vacation!) She has not been sick once, of course she understands she has to wash her hands and stay clean.....you would think this would be common sense!

My hens are confused and seem to think they are parrots, they want to fly up and sit on our shoulders as we walk around...we love them and they give fabulous eggs, enough to share around with our neighbors!