Just say NO! to Chicken Cuddling

[CalMeacham]

Backyard poultry may seem like a good idea ― just think of all the fresh eggs ― but if you start to cuddle your chickens, you could make yourself seriously sick.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say this year has already seen eight separate salmonella outbreaks linked to contact with pet poultry in the U.S. Those outbreaks have sickened more than 370 people in 47 states, hospitalizing 71. And we’re only halfway through 2017.
When the CDC interviewed patients in an attempt to understand the recent outbreaks, nearly half admitted to cuddling their backyard poultry. And while your birds might be adorable, they’re basically living in their own feces. It’s a recipe for salmonella.

Outbreaks linked to live contact with poultry have been on the rise as more people are keeping backyard flocks. It’s part of a nationwide urban farming movement that’s taking hold among people who are environmentally minded, as raising animals at home helps to lower energy usage and carbon emissions that are associated with transporting food.

America Has A Chicken Cuddling Problem, And It's Making People Ill

Despite the fact that we have cats and nuzzle and cuddle them, I find the guidelines the CDC issued about treating your poultry the same way are somewhat disturbing:

•First, don’t let live poultry live inside the house. (In a survey, it was found that 46 percent of people did let chickens in their house.)
•Always avoid kissing your birds or snuggling them, and then touching your mouth.
•If you can’t resist the urge to snuggle, or you’ve recently touched farming equipment, wash your hands immediately and thoroughly.

[Evan_Drake]

When I was very small I looked at one of those Victorian Medical Dictionaries with coloured fold out organs.

Prolly not a good idea; helped make me more squeamish.
Anyway it stuck with me that there used to be a disease caught from birds who’s affects were so extreme sufferers had to go and live in huts in the forest. Hope it died out in mediaeval times, but if it wasn’t a Victorian Urban Legend made up by medical students to scare the bejasus out of innocent little boys, all I can remember it the name was something like Mollossus.
And no, I have never tried to google it; why do you ask ?

[Jackmannii]

What’s the correlation between cuddling one’s chickens and later eating them? :eek:

[Gatopescado]

Chicken make a* bad* pet!

[kayaker]

Heh, our chickens spend their first eight weeks in our home, then they are moved out to their coop.

And we treat them like pets.

But we wash our hands. Fecal-oral transmission is a thing, after all.

[Dung_Beetle]

I run after mine, crying, “Let me LOVE YOU, chickens!” But they won’t.

[Marine_One]

Can we still cross the road with them?

[Gatopescado]

@kayaker

And we treat them like pets.

My wife was cuddling one of her stupid chickens.

And then it pecked her in the eye!

[si_blakely]

@Evan_Drake

Anyway it stuck with me that there used to be a disease caught from birds who’s affects were so extreme sufferers had to go and live in huts in the forest. Hope it died out in mediaeval times, but if it wasn’t a Victorian Urban Legend made up by medical students to scare the bejasus out of innocent little boys, all I can remember it the name was something like Mollossus.

Do you want a list …

Cryptococcus neoformans
Histoplasma capsulatum
Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC, Avian Tuberculosis)
Parrot Fever (Psittacosis; Chlamydiophila psittaci)
Bird fancier’s lung (hypersensitivity pneumonitis)

I don’t know which of those might have had Victorians sending people out into the forest, but Avian Tuberculosis might be a candidate - they were big on isolation and fresh air for tubercular diseases.

[phall0106]

@kayaker

Heh, our chickens spend their first eight weeks in our home, then they are moved out to their coop.

And we treat them like pets.

But we wash our hands. Fecal-oral transmission is a thing, after all.

Ditto. I love my girls, but not enough to snuggle. When I’m finished visiting with/feeding/cleaning coop, etc., I immediately wash my hands before doing anything else.

[blondebear]

How about chickens of the sea? Can we cuddle them?

[eschereal]

So chickenshit.

[Doctor_Jackson]

A favorite joke of my grandfather:

What is the white stuff on top of chicken shit?

Chicken shit!

And while we’re at it:
What is the difference between “erotic” and “kinky”?

Erotic is using a feather, kinky is using the whole chicken

[madsircool]

Ok…thanks to the CDC, ive just choked my chicken.

[Little_Nemo]

On a related note, don’t cuddle your reptile either. Their scales are often covered with salmonella bacteria.

[Evan_Drake]

@si_blakely

Do you want a list …

Cryptococcus neoformans
Histoplasma capsulatum
Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC, Avian Tuberculosis)
Parrot Fever (Psittacosis; Chlamydiophila psittaci)
Bird fancier’s lung (hypersensitivity pneumonitis)

I don’t know which of those might have had Victorians sending people out into the forest, but Avian Tuberculosis might be a candidate - they were big on isolation and fresh air for tubercular diseases.

Nah, it was a form of disfigurement, like leprosy. Which is why they were* too awful to be seen*.
Told you it was scary.

As for TB… Post on Stacy Aumonier. They probably thought misery cured.

[G0sp3l]

My grandmother used to cuddle the chickens on her farm (all except that damned rooster!). Made it easier to wring their necks. (all except that damned rooster!)

Think I’ll stop by KFC on the way home.

[Carryon]

I grew up on a farm, and this isn’t a uncommon as you’d think.

My father would have some friend or neighbor get the bright idea to raise chickens and well you guessed it, they’d wind up being a pet and usually it was an older lady who couldn’t bear to eat them so they’d be pets.

And the would be holding and cuddling them. It happens.

[Mangetout]

Turkey Spooning is still OK though, right?

[eschereal]

Damn, “turkey spooning” sounds like something that ought to be in Urban Dictionary.