Rampicruz
Songster
- Nov 23, 2020
- 60
- 203
- 116
Hi everyone!
I am pregnant (very early, 4wks and some change) and cleaned my chicken coop last week and today. I suddenly realized that may not be wise. I only have 2 chickens at the moment and live in a dry, hot climate. I use a straw bedding on top of rubber mats and the coop is kept clean and dry. They are not free range. I always wash my hands well after (even though I wear gloves) but I guess I have been a dumb-dumb and never bothered to change my clothes and I do not wear a mask when I am around all the dust and debris as I scoop it into a bin. So here I am just living my best life covered in chicken poop dust giving it no thought. I am just going to cross my fingers and say some prayers that I was hopefully not exposed to anything harmful (salmonella, toxoplasmosis, etc.) last week or today.
Heck even last week we lost a chicken and while I was careful not to touch my mouth or face without washing my hands first, I had her on my lap when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with her and was handling her for a few hours trying to rule out heat stroke and cool her down. We are 99% sure it was dehydration, vrs something more sinister/contagious, because we switched over to electrolyte water a few days prior and I do not think she liked it. I believe she was not drinking any water
I noticed (too late) that the water was not going down as quickly as it normally would with regular water. I am new to chickens and it did not even dawn on me to offer another side dish of regular water. It has been 95F+ every day here. She went from totally herself to dying in less than a day. I thought it was heat stroke but she had no symptoms of that other than lethargy. Entire coop is always in shade, had access to cooling pools with ice, electrolyte water...and her sisters were 100% fine and in the same environment. My poor girl went to chicken heaven overnight and I feel terrible about it. Taking all the measures now to make sure everyone can drink whatever kind of water they would like to. The two remaining are active, happy, healthy, and laying eggs almost daily. So who knows what happened to my sweet girl, but it freaked me out a little thinking about things retrospectively....what if she had some kind of strange disease that I just exposed myself and my pregnancy to? Again....prayers going up cause that is all I can do at this point.
I would like to find out if any ladies out there have gone through pregnancy whilst caring for chickens. If so, what did you do differently (if anything). Has anyone had any illness or complications due to chicken/chicken waste/chicken disease exposure? Am I being certifiably way too paranoid? Not paranoid enough??
I am thinking at the very least I need to up my protective measures and wear a mask while cleaning the coop as well as change out of any dirty clothes and put them promptly into the wash.
Thoughts?
I am pregnant (very early, 4wks and some change) and cleaned my chicken coop last week and today. I suddenly realized that may not be wise. I only have 2 chickens at the moment and live in a dry, hot climate. I use a straw bedding on top of rubber mats and the coop is kept clean and dry. They are not free range. I always wash my hands well after (even though I wear gloves) but I guess I have been a dumb-dumb and never bothered to change my clothes and I do not wear a mask when I am around all the dust and debris as I scoop it into a bin. So here I am just living my best life covered in chicken poop dust giving it no thought. I am just going to cross my fingers and say some prayers that I was hopefully not exposed to anything harmful (salmonella, toxoplasmosis, etc.) last week or today.
Heck even last week we lost a chicken and while I was careful not to touch my mouth or face without washing my hands first, I had her on my lap when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with her and was handling her for a few hours trying to rule out heat stroke and cool her down. We are 99% sure it was dehydration, vrs something more sinister/contagious, because we switched over to electrolyte water a few days prior and I do not think she liked it. I believe she was not drinking any water
I noticed (too late) that the water was not going down as quickly as it normally would with regular water. I am new to chickens and it did not even dawn on me to offer another side dish of regular water. It has been 95F+ every day here. She went from totally herself to dying in less than a day. I thought it was heat stroke but she had no symptoms of that other than lethargy. Entire coop is always in shade, had access to cooling pools with ice, electrolyte water...and her sisters were 100% fine and in the same environment. My poor girl went to chicken heaven overnight and I feel terrible about it. Taking all the measures now to make sure everyone can drink whatever kind of water they would like to. The two remaining are active, happy, healthy, and laying eggs almost daily. So who knows what happened to my sweet girl, but it freaked me out a little thinking about things retrospectively....what if she had some kind of strange disease that I just exposed myself and my pregnancy to? Again....prayers going up cause that is all I can do at this point.I would like to find out if any ladies out there have gone through pregnancy whilst caring for chickens. If so, what did you do differently (if anything). Has anyone had any illness or complications due to chicken/chicken waste/chicken disease exposure? Am I being certifiably way too paranoid? Not paranoid enough??
I am thinking at the very least I need to up my protective measures and wear a mask while cleaning the coop as well as change out of any dirty clothes and put them promptly into the wash.
Thoughts?
