By MARK BUTZOW

Indiana Correspondent

FREDERICK, Ill. — Farmer Billy Malcomson’s daughter begged her parents for an unusual birthday present two years ago, and that’s how mom Mackenzie ended up in the chicken business. She doesn’t regret it and went into it with her eyes wide open to the risks.

“Certainly, there is a risk that comes along with raising chickens, or any other livestock for that matter. The diseases they can carry was something I thought about before agreeing to get a small flock for my young daughter for her birthday,” Mackenzie said.

Owning backyard chickens and other poultry can be a great experience. However, the Centers for Disease Control warn that children and others with compromised immune systems have a greater chance of illness from handling live poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam. Even handling baby birds displayed at stores can cause a Salmonella infection.

According to the CDC, live poultry might have Salmonella germs in their droppings and on their bodies (feathers, feet, and beaks), even when they appear healthy and clean. The germs can get on cages, coops, feed and water dishes, hay, plants, and soil in the area where the birds live and roam. Germs also can get on the hands, shoes, and clothes of people who handle or care for the birds.

The CDC reported June 1 that more than 120 Salmonella illnesses linked to poultry have occurred since February. North Carolina has the most cases (17). In the Farm World region, Michigan and Tennessee have seven and six, respectively, and Indiana and Ohio are in a group of nine states with three to five cases each. Illinois has two Salmonella illnesses linked to handling of poultry this spring. There was none in Kentucky. There have been no deaths from these outbreaks, but 21 people have been hospitalized.

People become infected with Salmonella germs when they put their hands or equipment that has been in contact with live poultry in or around their mouth. Young children are more likely to get sick because their immune systems are still developing and they are more likely to put their fingers or pacifiers and other items into their mouths.

For Brantlee Malcomson, who is now 6, the poultry are a 4-H project, so she helps mom with the chicken as much as she can at her age.

“It is usually about monthly that we clean out the coop. This is always a job our daughter helps with,” Mackenzie Malcomson said. “This consists of raking and shoveling out their soiled pine bedding that fills the floor of the coop.” The nesting boxes also get cleaned out and washed down before new bedding is added. “It takes about three hours from start to finish, and always looks and smells so much nicer when it is completed.”

 “I do know there are risks,” says Malissa Sisson, who has 120 chickens on her farm near Hopedale, Ill. After a rainy week recently, Sisson said “our run was a swamp, and I know that’s not just mud. Their feet are dirty, and then they go into nesting boxes, and so we wash the eggs.”

Both Sisson and Malcomson said they take precautions not to track chicken “stuff” into the house.

“We do not wear our chicken shoes into the house,” Sisson said. If we clean their coop, our chicken clothes come off in the laundry room and right into the washer.” Sisson said several grandchildren will arrive soon and stay for six weeks. “We hold our chickens, and we snuggle some of them,” she said, but says her young grandkids will all have certain shoes they’re allowed to wear near the chickens. And there will be plenty of hand washing.

“To me, it’s common sense. Don’t kiss your chicken. Don’t go prepare dinner right after you cleaned the coop without washing hands and changing clothes. Treat it like you just changed a diaper.”

The CDC offers these tips to stay healthy with a backyard flock:

• Always wash hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching live poultry or anything in their environment.

• Don’t let children younger than 5 years handle or touch live poultry without adult supervision.

• Set aside a pair of shoes to wear while taking care of your birds and keep those outside of your home.

• Do not let live poultry inside the house, in bathrooms, or especially in areas where food or drink is prepared, served, or stored, such as kitchens or outdoor patios.