Official BYC Poll: Do You Wear a Mask or Respirator When Cleaning Your Coop?

[Love Donkeys]

My 28 y/o grandson cleans my walk-in coop monthly and puts down clean large flake shavings. It takes him three hours to do all the scraping and cleaning. He wears gloves, goggles, an N95 mask, boots and a full coverage disposable hazmat type suit. He buys the the personal safety suits on line for less than $10. He has medical problems and he's afraid the chicken dust and poop might give him more problems. He only wears the protection when he is doing the monthly cleaning.

 

[Svetik]

Да! Опрос хороший, так как он заставил меня и думаю и других задуматься о своём здоровье! И как не крути надо одевать защитные средства, что бы наши глаза и лёгкие не страдали!
Буду при уборке одевать маску и нелинится это делать. Спасибо

 

[BDutch]

Rarely.
Only if I have to clean everything out and it gets very dusty. I use diatomaceous earth, so I rather be safe than sorry.

 

[skeeeter]

Svetik said: "Yes! The survey is good, as it made me and I think others think about their health! And no matter how you look at it, we need to wear protective equipment so that our eyes and lungs do not suffer! I will wear a mask when cleaning and do not shed. Thank you" <-- done through duck duck go translator, what else?

 

[RebelEgger]

Probably should. Swallows some stray particles three days ago. Still feel it in my through. But I’ll be fine. Drink lots o whiskey…lol

I recommend Fireball for best results

 

[Shadrach]

Interesting that there is much concern about the keepers health who may spend a few hours in what they obviously believe to be a harmfull environment but the chickens who live in it are largely forgotton.
If the coops and runs are so dusty that the keeper needs a mask then perhaps we should consider providing masks for the chickens that deal with such conditions day in and day out.

 

[my spoiled chickens]

whenever I clean it out

 

[Gill-b]

A big cecal poop dropped on top of the chips stinks pretty bad, but once it's turned into the chips there's no smell.

I learnt a new term today: "cecal poop"
Almost ashamed to say that I had to Google it, hahaha
Thank you for the enlightenment! I had been wondering what that poop was.

 

[CountryChic63]

I wear a N95 when deep cleaning (changing out winter shavings for summer sand & visa versa). Hubby cleans the poop trays now on, after I was hospitalized 13 days AFTER I recovered from C19, but ended up with double pneumonia, along with a bunch more fatal issues, in 1-2022.

 

[Debbie292d]

Like @BDutch, we too use diatomaceous earth and have silkies who roost on top of the nest boxes where I sprinkle it a couple of times a month. Thus when cleaning it, hubby and I both wear a mask to be safe as scraping that is usually dusty. The hen boxes too when changing those, all that dander and the DE!

The floor is horse pellets so that's never dusty but we only change those once a year anyway.