I will keep that in mind if I do dust them. So far, I haven't seen anything to make me think they have mites or lice, so maybe I've been lucky:)
I'm hoping whatever's going on is not chicken related and will let you know what I find out.
I've had a mild cough the past few weeks, and my mother was panicking (unecessarily, I think) that I might have caught histoplasmosis from taking care of our chickens. I plan to check into testing to appease her.
This does beg the question though, of when/if I should be wearing a mask to take...