A trend in raising chickens in urban/suburban areas has led to a spike in salmonella infections:
The popular trend of raising backyard chickens in U.S. cities and suburbs is bringing with it a soaring number of illnesses from poultry-related diseases, at least one of them fatal. Since January, more than 1,100 people have contracted salmonella poisoning from chickens and ducks in 48 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Almost 250 were hospitalized and one person died. The toll was four times higher than in 2015.
The CDC estimates that the actual number of cases from contact with chickens and ducks is likely much higher. "For one salmonella case we know of in an outbreak, there are up to 30 others that we don't know about," CDC veterinarian Megin Nichols said.
A "large contributing factor" to the surge, Nichols said, comes from natural food fanciers who have taken up the backyard chicken hobby but don't understand the potential dangers. Some treat their birds like pets, kissing or snuggling them and letting them walk around the house. Poultry can carry salmonella bacteria in their intestines that can be shed in their feces. The bacteria can attach to feathers and dust and brush off on shoes or clothing.
But illnesses can be prevented with proper handling. The CDC recommends that people raising chickens wash their hands thoroughly after handling the birds, eggs or nesting materials, and leave any shoes worn in a chicken coop outside.
Salmonella is much more common as a food-borne illness. More than 1 million people fall ill each year from salmonella contamination in food, resulting in more than 300 deaths, according to the CDC. There are no firm figures on how many households in the U.S. have backyard chickens, but a Department of Agriculture report in 2013 found a growing number of residents in Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City expressed interest in getting them. Coops are now seen in even the smallest yards and densest urban neighborhoods.
Earlier article from when only 900 people had been infected this year.
Related: Backyard Beekeeping Now Legal in Los Angeles
Related Stories
MyNewsLA reports
The Los Angeles City Council voted [October 14] to allow backyard beekeeping, joining cities like Santa Monica, New York, Denver, and other cities where the hobby is legal.
[...] Councilman Paul Koretz [....] said bees "do especially well in Los Angeles" and Wednesday's move could help address bee colony collapse disorder which has claimed about a third of the global bee population.
[...] City leaders and members of HoneyLove, a nonprofit that promotes beekeeping, said the activity aids urban farming efforts such as community gardens. They also said urban areas offer a pesticide-free environment for insects that are critical to the health of agriculture and plants.
[...] The ordinance allows no more than one hive per 2,500 square feet per lot area to be kept in the backyards of single-family homes citywide. Front yard beekeeping is barred by the ordinance.
It also sets buffer zones and areas on a property where hives can be kept and requires that beekeepers raise walls or hedges high enough to ensure bees need to fly up before leaving the backyard.
A water source also needs to be maintained near the hives so the bees would not need to venture outside of the beekeeper's backyard to get hydrated, under the rules.
The backyard beekeepers also need to register with the County of Los Angeles Agricultural Commission.
The commission has 129 beekeepers registered with 219 locations countywide, according to commission spokesman Ken Pellman. Of those registered, 39 are commercial beekeepers, which means they have eight or more hives.
[...] Los Angeles already averages about eight to 10 feral bee hives per square mile.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:28AM (3 children)
This goes way beyond chickens. Hello toxoplasmosis! Would you like birth defects, car crashes, and reckless promiscuity? Mess with cats, and all that can be yours!
The list of animal-spread diseases is long and interesting. Your doctor needs to pay off student loads, buy a house, send kids to college, and build a retirement fund. The coroner and mortician are also eyeing you.
So anyway, about salmonella. Basically every animal with a vaganus ("cloaca" in latin) has it. All birds, lizards, and amphibians have it. All of their eggs have it. Be sanitary. Cook your damn food, don't contaminate the sink handle or put cooked food back on something that held uncooked food, etc. If you aren't careful and smart, resign yourself to fate or just buy military rations.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @09:41AM (1 child)
I'll have two to go please.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:05AM
Spotted the toxo carrier.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @11:56AM
So giving a parakeet¹ to a mature child is a double gift, a buddy and a vaccine
1- not one with a ridiculously long life expectancy, that might be a curse.. but a pair of hand raised budgies at [4, 15] years
2- i had a few bugdies over time and the fancier the color pattern the faster they died
(Score: 4, Insightful) by t-3 on Friday October 20 2017, @05:31AM (11 children)
Birds are disgustingly dirty, especially chickens. Plus, chickens eat ANYTHING. I bet all those urban chickens are fattening up on city rats and pigeons. Combine this with hipsters who probably think their chickens are cuddly vegetarians rather than ravenous mini-dinos, and disease is sure to strike. I bet there's good money in wringing necks and plucking feathers for the squeamish ones.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Friday October 20 2017, @06:17AM
So thank ${DEITY:-Science H. Logic} for this story. Maybe I finally have all the proof I need that my generation isn't the stupidest. (Like I needed any more, but it's nice to get each of the boxes ticked.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @10:37AM (8 children)
Don't be ridicules. Chickens don't eat rats or pigeons.
Chickens eat bugs and frogs though. But they are smart and learn rather quickly not to try to eat wasps ;)
Also, chickens are no more dirty than other birds. And salmonella has nothing to do with them being dirty or not.
Ha! That's probably one of the bits of truth you wrote.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @04:26PM
And mice. Some chickens love mice, though they're hard to catch, and even harder to eat. The chicken has to bash the mouse into the ground repeatedly until the bones are broken enough, so it will fit down their throat, but apparently it's worth the effort.
I'm sure they'd love to eat rats as GP suggests, but the smash-and-swallow approach just doesn't scale, and they're simply not adapted for tearing animals into bite-sized chunks like raptors do.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:30PM (3 children)
I would love to keep chickens in habit trails in my garden to eat the slugs who eat my produce. They'd eat up the pests and fertilize the garden with their droppings at the same time. Alas the subdivision doesn't allow chickens.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by tfried on Saturday October 21 2017, @08:19PM (1 child)
You haven't ever visited a "garden" with chicken, did you? 'Cause you would have noticed that whatever area the chickens are allowed to roam in, invariably, is a barren wasteland. Chicken will destroy any existing vegetation below fully grown trees in no time at all. Or were you thinking about keeping the chickens caged, and feeding them hand-picked slugs?
Perhaps try ducks to keep the slugs in check.
(Score: 1) by helel on Saturday October 21 2017, @08:45PM
If your chickens have picked their cage baron you haven't given them enough space. With room to roam they will create a few dust baths but otherwise will leave plenty of vegetation alone. Mind you they're still not great in gardens because anything you eat they eat and so they'll devourer your lettuce, tomatoes, and melons while leaving your kale and chard alone.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Sunday October 29 2017, @01:34AM
Ducks might be a way around that, they're quieter, more aesthetically pleasing, and easier on your garden too because they scratch less and will eat fewer of your veggies. They're messier than chickens (liquidy duck shit etc), but easier in most ways.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Friday October 20 2017, @04:40PM (2 children)
The entire reason my Dad doesn't eat eggs anymore is, because he saw a bunch of chickens flock around a rat and eat it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:47PM (1 child)
Tell your dad that's exactly why we need to eat chickens, to keep them from doing that to us. He must do his part to keep the dinosaurs down. Those little bastards need to pay for eating great (x10^20) grand pappy!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:03PM
was he upset he didnt get a chance to get some rat himself?
gee even the plants we eat often are enriched with BS. that's worse from a gross out factor. i dont hear about people giving up plants because of the BS, and the BS is all around us as well as being in the food!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:49PM
I wish chickens would eat rats and pigeons. I would much rather have a bunch of free range chickens to eat when civilization collapses than millions of free range rats and pigeons.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @10:33AM
There is a vaccine for salmonella for chickens. And it's cheap. Problem is it's mostly for large operators, not for people with dozen chickens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/25vaccine.html [nytimes.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @01:35PM (4 children)
In rural areas, free range chickens are supposedly useful for controlling tick populations and reducing Lyme disease.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday October 20 2017, @02:07PM
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Friday October 20 2017, @02:46PM
Possums too, although that's probably a less tasty option.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:45PM (1 child)
I'm glad you said that. They don't allow chickens in the Long Island suburbs, but Lyme disease has been spreading down from Connecticut. Using them to control Lyme-carrying ticks would be a useful way to get the law changed so people can keep chickens for meat and eggs.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @11:27PM
I'm really glad to see your post!
Ticks used to be kept in check by native American species like wild turkey, and bob white quail. Chickens aren't native. Guinea fowl are probably the most specifically adapted tick hunters on the planet, but they also aren't native.
The turkey is coming back due to several private trap and release projects. Results have been dramatic in the northeast over the past several years. The bob white is more difficult because it has a more specialized habitat. My state tried it but ended up making the problem worse. There have been some private bob white restoration projects, but they haven't done as well as the wild turkey.
Anyway, if you want to see Lyme curtailed in the northeast, those two birds are where to start. You can join nwtf.org if you'd like to be part of the trap and release projects, or seek out your local wildlife management extension for advice, if your interested in this subject.
Thanks!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ilsa on Friday October 20 2017, @03:17PM (3 children)
WTF... Who in their right mind would do that, considering the impressive amount of poop that chickens produce? AFAIK they can't be toilet trained, and given the sheer amount of poop that is produce your house would be revolting in no time.
Is it so hard for humans to do *anything* without screwing it up?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @04:28PM
Some people say they can be trained, but I think most people with chickens in the house put diapers on them. Still crazy.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:43PM
I grew up in farm country and know how to breathe through my mouth, but chicken filth is still almost impossible to handle it's so ammonic. It's hard to imagine wanting that reek in your house.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @04:54PM
I've never heard of it for a chicken but duck diapers are a thing: Dino Ducky Diapers: How to dress your duck. [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @04:58PM (2 children)
On a certain level I find stories like this ridiculous. As if store-bought chicken/eggs/what-have-you is safe. There are stories all the time about E. coli and salmonella contaminated groceries. And if it's not garden-variety pathogens like that, it's mystery antibiotics or genetic engineering or other dopants that will wind up dissolving your kidneys or giving your kids three arms. Furthermore, think about how much food in your grocery store comes from places with stellar, just stellar, standards of hygiene like China--China, a country where they have to put signs in restaurants asking customers, "Please don't spit on the floor!"
If you raise your own livestock, you know exactly what you give them or don't. Also, in case you care about such things, the carbon footprint of that protein is zero.
But, no, hey, the big scary government/media/corporate dudes are right, raising your own chickens and other livestock is so difficult and dangerous that all the humans before the modern era who did it totally went extinct and brought all human civilization to an end. Also, the billions upon billions of people on Earth who still do it fall dead every time they touch a farm animal.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:38PM
We don't want people using their yards to grow food now do we? Think of the mega corps!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @08:52PM
Unless you're feeding them anything besides leftovers and waste...
(Score: 1) by noneof_theabove on Friday October 20 2017, @05:20PM (1 child)
Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt.
Same for the dairy industry not letting you have real milk
Real milk goes bad to "buttermilk".
The stuff in the store just putrefies and will make you sick.
We are the ends to the means for Corporate AmeriKKKa to more tax breaks.
The rethugs mantra - let them eat cake [yea, that stole that one too]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 20 2017, @07:05PM
Sure, the food industry is FUCKING BLOWN by you keeping a few chickens at home.
Annual per capita chicken consumption is over 90 lbs [nationalchickencouncil.org] and projected to increase.
Or there really is a health problem here.
Make sure to tell us about your support for alternative medicine next.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]