Bedding suggestions for folks with allergies please?

[LynneP]

For allergic horses, dry peat moss is recommended...it's dark but when I used it for an elderly gelding it absolutely took away his wheezing...not sure about humans, but I mixed Stable Boy stall powder with it and it stayed on the floor...

 

[gsim]

Wooden pony nailed it. Use a dust mask or bandanna. Keep one or even several in a closed container on site so as not to have to make an extra trip if it is forgotten. Use a good litter and make it 8" deep. Coop will be dusty no matter what you do. I use grass because it works great and because it is free. It is no more nor less dusty than anything else.

 

[patandchickens]

I'm not sure peat moss would work well as chicken bedding, though. It has to be dampened to use for horses, otherwise it produces an incredible blizzard of fine brown dust anytime anything moves near it. Damp bedding in a chicken coop just does not sound like a good idea to me. In a warm climate, you'd have to keep re-dampening it; in a cold climate, it seems to me it'd be likely to humidify your coop real bad and court frostbite. It *is* good for heave-y horses, though.

There are no dust mites in pine shavings, you know, Suechick... and if you can find a good quality brand, they needn't be inherently dusty. Whereas DE is *unavoidably* a dusty respiratory irritant...

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[briteday]

I think the answer lies not in the type of bedding, but rather keeping the dust from the bedding out of the respiratory tract of the caregivers.

I vote for good face masks and showering right after coop cleaning. Even without nasty allergies I wear a mask when I clean a poop board (weekly) and definitely when I add or change out bedding (we use straw). Even the chickens are dusty little critters (just try brooding chicks in the house!) so dust masks are mandatory around our place.

 

[Suechick]

Thank you, thank you thank you!!!

I'm going to put a supply of dust masks with my other coop tools/tack.
We live in San Diego and our low temps are about 45 degrees for a few months a year, our highest highs barely hit 85 in the summer, the coop is raised up on concrete blocks to stay out of water during the rains, but it is usually dry here. So, since I don't have a moisture/frostbite problem, would the peat moss work OK? I think the girls would love taking dust baths in that...

 

[Bookworm chick]

Quote:
All good answers. My pine shavings have no dust that I can see. The chickens themselves make more dust. I second the suggestion for good dust masks (not those paper-types) in the coop. I have asthma but the dust mask is great! I do look like some character in a science-fiction movie though.

The above point about showering after cleaning the coop is a good one. Those allergens can also track into the house on shoes, clothing, etc. too. Geez, those dusty cluckers are a lot of trouble when you think about it.

 

[Buzz4401]

You could try reptile grade Aspen. Harlan makes a bedding that is almost completely dust free. I use it on my snakes after they started getting respitory issues due to dust. I think I pay about 20-25 bucks for 4 cubic feet.

 

[JessaLynn]

Your at a loss cause when searching for dust free bedding.Like said before chickens are very dusty critters and you will have a layer of their dander everywhere in no time.I have really bad allergies and very allergic to hay but can't be helped.I just deal with it honestly.If it comes in contact with my skin I break out and itch like crazy.Wearing a mask and protective clothing is your best bet.I have tried everything imaginable and that is the only solution.Good luck to you!

 

[LynneP]

Another little thing, if you use wood shavings- sometimes one of the bales will be very heavy because it is loaded with sawdust from the end of a run at the mill. Ask to exchange it for a light one, which is shavings mostly, to avoid excess dust...