FINCHforum

It may be a silly question but I'm worried about making them sick. I'm running a temperature so I'm assuming I'm contagious. My hubbie has been helping with food and water but I need to remove a nest full of first time eggs (infertile) and do various other things. Is it safe to be around them or should I wait a bit more?

Plus I haven't been in the bird room for two days and it's driving me mad!

Usually viruses are host specific, the human cold is one of them. I would say as long as your hands are clean if handling food and water you should be fine. I have had a few really bad colds and still take care of the birds....not to worry, they will be fine if you want to take a peek in at them.

PS feel better soon, I just got over one that had me sick for 5 days.

It is possible for some influenza A viruses to be transmitted from humans to birds.

But if you really had the flu instead of a cold you probably wouldn't be thinking about your birds now. That's based on my one experience with the flu.

When I owned my Gray I was concerned about passing a cold virus to him, the vet assured me not to worry just do not let him kiss your face or mouth, make sure your hands are washed well. The bigger concern was for strep or secondary bacterial infections you can get with a cold.

You should be fine if you practice good hygiene while handling your bird items. Having gone through years of raising birds of all kinds I just made sure my hands were clean while feeding and watering. Washing your hands after you need to cough or blow your nose is always wise anyway!

Usually when your ill you are not into the big cleanings and just do basic feeding and watering or have someone help you.

Hope you feel better, glad your husband is there to help you.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Even though I don't feel up to cleaning their cages but it's been eating at me that my two hens were putting so much time and energy into sitting tight on a nest of infertile eggs. If their effort on this bunch of eggs is any indicator of a real future clutch - these little gals are gonna be great mommas.

After some pushing and shoving on my part I finally got them off the nest and removed it. They looked around for a bit and went on with life like it had never been there!

It's pretty obvious I worry about this stuff much more than they do!

Letting them sit on infertile eggs is definately good practice for them!!!