In the real world news today Thurs, November 29 2018

[Goat Whisperer]

OK, so I have to ask again:

1. Is there a way to test your flock for salmonella while they are still living breathing sentient beings?
2. Were the cases of Salmonella in people who had processed their own birds? I know if you aren't careful you can cut into the digestive tract and let loose bacteria. Proper cleanliness is mandatory.

I didn't read all the articles @greybeard posted, so can't say.

NPIP is a great resource when it comes to disease testing poultry. It's been many years since I looked at the site, I think all our old books on testing types/methods are now gone. Back when we were a poultry breeding farm, I spent more time researching. We had regular testing of AI, and pullorum-typhiod and even did MG.
Different tests: http://www.poultryimprovement.org/Salmonella.cfm

Now the breeding farm is gone. We just have a few old birds left, and I don't watch/read much about poultry.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks GW.

 

[greybeard]

OK, so I have to ask again:

1. Is there a way to test your flock for salmonella while they are still living breathing sentient beings?

You simply assume they all do, as salmonella is so common in any farm environment, just as I assume all my cattle are dropping salmonella and E Coli every time they poop.

 

[Mike CHS]

I assume we all take hygiene seriously doing what we do. We have several school teachers that bring their classes out to see how animals are raised. Even though we are a rural area the town people have no idea how food is raised so the schools have some involvement with 4H. Tennessee has a pretty good program going that shows the real world of how food is raised. We don't let any of the children touch any of our animals since we don't want them thinking small farms are petting zoos. They enjoy the visits it seems and we make sure they at least get to pet those vicious Livestock Guardian Dogs.

 

[Bruce]

and we make sure they at least get to pet those vicious Livestock Guardian Dogs.

ACK! They'll never guard anything if you let them interact with humans!!

 

[Sheepshape]

Maybe safest to assume that all chicken /eggs have Salmonella and cook eggs so that the albumin and the yolk are fully solid, and chicken meat 'over 140F for over an hour' after making sure that there's no trace of guts in the body cavity. Probably leaves a pretty dried out piece of meat....but, then again, you'd expect such 'sage' advice from someone who hasn't eaten chicken for over 30 years! I believe that one of the worst problems is when chicken meat is held at fairly low temperatures e.g in mass catering.

I THINK my own little chicken flock is Salmonella-free. If any birds are killed (and that is a rarity), they are eaten by the dog, but my family and friends eat eggs from the birds which are cooked pretty soft. To date they remain well......

yet sometimes playing in such "dirt" makes our immune systems stronger. Play in the dirt and then wash up!

I think there's fairly good evidence now that keeping babies and young children in too clean an environment means that they don't develop such a good immune system. So when toddler drops food on the floor and immediately returns it to his mouth, he MAY be doing himself more good than harm.

 

[mystang89]

So when toddler drops food on the floor and immediately returns it to his mouth, he MAY be doing himself more good than harm.

5 second time exists here but it's normally cut shorter, not because of safety it anything, but if the children don't get down there quickly the dog already has it. Maybe that's why my dog hardly gets sick. I may need to rethink my lifestyle and start living like dogs.

 

[Bruce]

You could just skip the plates and serve the food on the floor.

 

[Latestarter]

Think of the eco savings doing so Bruce... electricity &/or gas (hot water/dishwasher), water, soap, manpower/hours with doing dishes, savings with not needing to clean the floors as the kids and dogs will wash them for you. Better health for all involved... I mean it sounds like a good plan to me for many reasons!

 

[Sheepshape]

Soup would be a bit of a problem methinks.......