Wearing a mask while cleaning the coop

[ARose4Heaven]

I ran across this thread... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=106982 while surfing around BYC. It scared the bejeegers outta me!. Then I saw this article in our "Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman" News Paper March 2, 2011.

It made me think... Yes, some folks get sick from not wearing a mask, but others don't. I wonder, is it mostly people that are raised in very clean environments that get sick? I personally don't wear a mask, but was raised in a "less than clean" environment, and have a natural resistance to most nasties.

I thought that we needed this thread brought back out to circulate again, because so many of our members are city dwellers, that may have been raised without exposure to the fungus and toxins in chicken poo. Coop safety is is so very important and getting ill from keeping chickens is avoidable if one just exercises caution.

 

[sourland]

Better safe than sorry. I was raised on a farm and have had a wide variety of animal poop on my hands.

I wear a cannister type mask when cleaning lofts/coops. You only get one set of lungs and they do not regenerate. If you ever knew someone with "pigeon lung", you wouldn't take chances either.

 

[terrilhb]

I don't wear a mask. I do wear gloves for deep cleaning. But that is because I don't want alot of chicken poop on my hands.

I don't know why I do it. I don't for anything else and always wash my hands when done. The joys of chickens. But I love them and would not trade them for nothing.

 

[jennh]

I don't wear gloves or a mask. BUT I always wash my hands well, and

blow my nose well when I am done!!

Jen

 

[Katy]

I was raised on a farm and still live on a farm. I have asthma and I do wear a mask. My kids were raised on a farm and two still have ag related jobs and all three still help out here on the farm when they can. 2 of the 3 have asthma so I'm not sure I put much stock in the study. Personally I think it's foolish not to wear a mask.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I only wear a mask if its really dusty, and I can find where I put them.

.

 

[Miss Lydia]

x2

 

[silkiechicken]

I say wear a mask. A mask does not stop everything. Things still do get behind that mask. To gain immunities to things... you only need a tiny amount of exposure, exposure you can get without ending up with farmers lung.

Unless you are wearing a respirator, you'll get plenty of dust and junk through a mask.