[Aidy]

For me its more a habit when dealing with cack, having patients with toxocariasis and the damage done to the eye I tend to be more cautious. I have not looked into which pathogens are in chicken cack, perhaps some biologist type might enlighten us but for now I prefer my hands to be clean when I come into contact with cack.

[GrannieAnnie]

Oh for goodness sake ..... Ok, people in hospital need to wash their hands before dealing with other people as they are ill , can pass infections on to other people who are ill and immuno-suppressed, however, in the normal world how many people actually have time to handwash like this after doing every day chours ?. I shower every morning, have a bath most nights, wash my hands well after using the loo and before preparing food, and after poo picking, apart from that i rely on the fact i have a strong immune system based on the fact we hardly ever get infections, never have tummy bugs, or food poisoning (miracle with my cooking) I have 4 children, 19 chickens, 1 cockerel, a turkey, rabbit, guinea pig, a dog and a husband and ive managed to keep them all alive so far! We live in a world where everything is disinfected and kids cant make mud pies or finger paint cos they will get dirty....rubbish, the only way we will learn to fight the germ is to be exposed to germs....
After leaning your coops, it would be wise to wash your hands with soap and water, but if you forget, you wont die a horrible death...you'll probably be stronger for it

And how many pairs of Marigold gloves did you say you had around the coops Lizzie??   

[GrannieAnnie]

Sorry Lizzie, I was only joshing!

I do agree that we are obsessed with hygiene these days, and I've had pets of some sort almost all my life, plus I live with Brian, and I'm not dead yet!

But I do tend to wash my hands in anti bacterial handwash whenever I've been out to the chickens, although he doesn't!

I did get a very bad dose of cellulitis in 2004-5 which my brother looked up on the internet and said it can happen when living in dirty conditions!  Well I don't live in dirty conditions, (well maybe sometimes!) but I do wonder if it's the 'other person' in the house that caused it!!!!  I couldn't walk for a month, and he nearly starved me to death too!!!!   

[viettaclark]

I pick up chicken poo bare-handed....no probs...scrubbing brush and washing up liquid to clean them, but I know I've forgotten sometimes and nobody has died.
I feel it's "clean" poo....compared with cat/dog/13 year old boys........

[dizzylizzie]

Grannie is right, i do have severel pairs of marigolds hanging around the coops, they are for when i poo pick as i find the scoops awkward to use. I was just trying to say how i thought common sense should prevail.....we do live in a world gone mad, think back to when you were kids, how many worm hunts, mud pies, scratching your bottoms then sharing food.....and we are all still alive....im not saying never wash your hands dirt will make you tuff, im saying, in my opinion be sensible- not obsessive!

[carolbriar]

I agree with you dizzylizzie, people have become obsessive - to a certain extent me included.  Since getting the chooks I have washed my hands far more than ever before.  Perhaps I should think again each time I head for the antibacterial handwash - its drying my hands out horribly!!

[beulah59]

Whether or not you wash your hands often or only before preparing food/after using the toilet, there is a proper/effective way to wash them as per the chart on the link. Not enough people know how to actually wash their hands, no matter how often that is!

 

[neil9797]

Wow, what an interesting & unexpected conversation! All I wanted to know is a good handwash and whether F10 was OK (still appreciate an answer to that btw). Instead I find a community of rufty-tufty, rural earth-mother types, some troglodytes and others obviously living on a landfill site in Manila!  Really folks, some of you sound like those smokers who are eighty and claim that fags never harmed them - very much the exception not the rule!  I actually used to have OCD but was cured a few years ago so I know what obsessional is - protecting ones hands with gloves and washing afterwards is not obsessional! I'm glad this is an online community - I wouldn't want to shake hands with some of you!  :blink:

[Aidy]

The point I make is this. Below are two images, the first is a fundus photo of my retina, it is healthy and I have pointed out the macular, the macular is very important as it gives all of the central vision, most people have heard of macular degeneration and the effects of it. If the macular was damage in anyway you simply have a black hole in the centre of your vision, the more it is damaged the bigger the hole. The second image is a patient who had toxocari, infected by animal faeces, whilst I agree it is not fatal, this person is pretty much blind in that eye as the worm has munched its way the macular area. It is not obsessive, just simple hygene when my hands come in contact with faeces!!



Normal antibacterial soap would do the job Neil

Edit: The photo should have a R at the end of macula 

[Aunt Sally]

Lovely pictures Aidy

Please don't get the idea that you can contract Toxicara from your chickens folks - you can't.

T. canis - is from dogs

T. cati - is from cats

Toxicara does not come from chooks. 

Chooks can contract it [rarely] but as they are not the primary host it goes into their tissues (mostly liver and lung).  You could theoretically catch it if you eat very under cooked liver *spit*

[Aidy]

Lovely pictures Aidy

Please don't get the idea that you can contract Toxicara from your chickens folks - you can't.

T. canis - is from dogs

T. cati - is from cats

Toxicara does not come from chooks. 

Chooks can contract it [rarely] but as they are not the primary host it goes into their tissues (mostly liver and lung).  You could theoretically catch it if you eat very under cooked liver *spit*

Perfectly correct Aunty. As I mentioned in an earlier reply I am not sure if any pathogens exist in chicken cack that could do damage to us in anyway, but I will always wash my hands when dealing with it.

[Aunt Sally]

Me too Aidy   

I knew you knew Toxicara wasnt a problem with chooks.

Just wanted to make sure all the chickeny people here didn't freak out 

[Squibbs]

I poo pick barehanded, chicken poo is pretty benign, I certainly wouldn't do that with dog or cat poo. Reptiles have salmonella as a commensal (ie it doesn't do them any harm) but I have seen a few children with salmonella from their reptiles and  salmonella carriage can be a long term problem.

I was my hands before eating or food preparation and make sure my daughter does the same, otherwise I'm pretty happy for both of us to get nice and mucky most of the time.

[beulah59]

I've asked several times but still no answer ... can humans contract mycoplasma from hens?

[joyfull]

not that I am aware of, however, after dealing with my girls I always wash, dry then use antibac gel (same as when cleaning up after my dogs) after going to Broomfield agricultural college and having as part of the course a section on Zoonosis (deseases passed from animals to humans).