Help me make a housing decision by sharing your Poison Oak experiences and opinions

[leecb]

We are considering moving to property with a considerable amount of poison oak. For context, this would be a rental, not a purchase. We’ve discussed a few different management options (hand pulling, goats, etc). My main question is:

Will the leaf litter that’s on the ground and other remnants of the plants continue to spread the oils via dogs and chickens - even if I am keeping new growth at bay (either myself or with goats)?

I like to pick up/handle our chickens, and also want to dig around for gardening, and don’t want to be constantly worried about the whole ground being full of oils. The chickens would free range or be rotated through cleared areas.

I’m basically trying to determine how much of a deterrent the poison oak should be. The poison oak is everywhere, including where I would put the coop and run and garden, so it’s not really avoidable.

Any thoughts? Am I overthinking this? What experiences have you all had?

 

[Debbie292d]

You're on the right track there about the oils. All a chicken has to do is brush up against one, and they'll have it on them, then you will get it by picking the chicken up.

The only way I'd move there is by using broadleaf killer on it. That'll kill that stuff but not the grass if there is any. Keep your pets and kids away from that until it's dry. We've done it early in the morning and by noon we'd let the chickens out.