Are my kids safe around chicken poop?

[wegotchickens]

Thankfully, my Mom was raised on a farm and tried to make sure we kids had some of those experiences. And she supports us trying to do the same now.
But my ex is upset about the chickens. Bird flu was his big thing. I pointed out the features we'd used to keep our chicks safer...
He also pitched a fit when the kids were breeding hamsters for a local pet store. His 'concern' then was salmonella. The kids knew to wash their hands before and after playing with them. But they still kissed those fuzzy heads, they didn't get sick, and had some wonderful learning experiences.

 

[wischickenlover]

On the opposite side of the coin.....Chicken poo itself is no more hazardous to us than any other poo; however, washing, washing, and more washing of hands is the key here. Last year, my son, who was 7 at the time, had an open scratch on his hand (that I didn't know about at the time). He regularly helped me collect eggs from the coop. The following week, he was complaining to me that his finger was really hurting. I took a look at it, and it was very clearly badly infected. It became purple, swollen, hot, and full of pus . (sorry for those with a weak stomach!)How he didn't complain about it sooner was beyond me! The infection took over half of his finger, and very quickly. We took him to the doctor and he was very concerned at the severity of the infection and raised doubts about even being able to cure it with some very strong antibiotics. He asked right away if we had any animals, and I gave him the list of what we had, told him about helping with the eggs, etc. Right then, he stopped me and nodded. He said the bacteria from any poo that he came in contact with in the coop had made its way into the scratch on his finger. This produced a very nasty staph infection. The doc gave us some very powerful antibiotics, and it took about three days to even begin getting better. The doc said if we had waited even another day, there's a good chance my son would have lost his finger. I am not trying to scare anyone, but just know that the chicken poo, or any other kind of poo can be harmful to anyone if they have any kind of open sore and come into contact with it. I would advise if anyone has any open sores and they are cleaning the coop, or collecting eggs, to wear some sort of protection on their hands, just to be on the safe side. And of course, handwashing plays a very large part in preventing the germs and bacteria from harming you or your family members. We had to learn the hard way! Just thought I would share our story.

 

[nykis peeps]

Here is a link that you can read talks about Histoplasmosis which is caused from inhaling the fungus in chicken poop.
Usually only a concern to pregnant women and people with low immune systems. You can wet the poop with water to
Lessen the chance of inhaling dust caused from cleaning the poop. Hope this helps!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/histoplasmosis/basics/definition/CON-20026585

 

[karlajm]

I appreciate all your common-sense 'don't worry about it" answers, but there are some caveats here that sound common-sense too (like, wash your children's' paws after possible exposure to chicken poop, especially if the kids are small): see http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2010/10/thinking-about-keeping-live-poultry/