Has anyone ever gotten sick from cleaning their coop?

[nab58]

I've had my six chickens since March. We built a new coop and run.. The coop is a 4'x8' walk-in and the run is 15'x8'.
I have sand on the floor of the coop and sweet PDZ in the poop tray. I've mixed some earth grade DE with both the sand and PDZ.
I'm using a slotted kitchen spoon and a deep fat fryer wire basket to sift the poo. There has been some visible dust. I have not been wearing a mask as I felt with the windows and door open I had proper ventilation.
One day during cleaning I started coughing and some burning in my lungs. I ought it would go away after I coughed and took some deep breathes. Is been about a week and I've had a slight fever 100.2 off and on. I don't have a cold but do have congestion deep in my chest.
I will be getting a mask to work in the coop from now on and am disappointed because that will feel miserable in the hot weather and feel like I'm dealing with disease.
I had a heart valve repaired last summer (exactly one year ago tomorrow...congratulations to me!) and am now susceptible to infections in my heart valves (ex. Endocarditis...have to take antibiotics whenever I see the dentist).

I'm wondering If anyone else has had any respiratory issues from coop cleaning. I just googled it and started reading about a fungus you can get in your lungs but had to stop reading as I was freaking myself out.

 

[Messipaw]

Hi
I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you. We have had no problems, Thankfully. I have heard that it is always best to wear a mask. Especially when scrapping the “poo” of the floor. I did have an issue when I inhaled some “DE” it made my eyes burn and I coughed up a storm.
I wish you all the best.

 

[nab58]

I've Breen looking to purchase some masks to wear while cleaning and am kind of confused.....
They say to get NIOSH approved masks but there are many to choose from with varying prices. Is any mask with NIOSH approval okay? Can you use them over again? Where do you store them? In a plastic container near your coop? wouldn't that mean any contaminant on the outside would get inside during storage?

I'm curious to hear from people who use masks how they deal with it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p...d+mask&ie=UTF8&qid=1370277958&rnid=2470954011

 

[tabilheu]

We wear masks just a precaution. I'm not sure the brand but they work well. I can find out for you if you would like.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I've Breen looking to purchase some masks to wear while cleaning and am kind of confused.....
They say to get NIOSH approved masks but there are many to choose from with varying prices. Is any mask with NIOSH approval okay? Can you use them over again? Where do you store them? In a plastic container near your coop? wouldn't that mean any contaminant on the outside would get inside during storage?

I'm curious to hear from people who use masks how they deal with it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p...d+mask&ie=UTF8&qid=1370277958&rnid=2470954011

Those masks are single-use items.

I don't use a mask while cleaning the coop now, but my husband, a biostatistician specializing in pre-natal stats, tried to make me do so while I was pregnant (I made HIM clean it instead

). They're honestly a good idea, since there are lots of airborne bacteria and dusts in chicken litter. Personally, I can't handle wearing them, they make me feel like I'm suffocating. But our coop has lots of very large windows, so I'm able to open the whole thing up instead of marinating in the dust.

 

[nab58]

So the doctor listened to my lungs and thought I may have pneumonia. I had a chest X-ray and it came back negative. She wanted me to take antibiotics but I read antibiotics can make a fungal infection worse because it kills good bacteria that kill fungus. Luckily, the prescription was not at the pharmacy so I'll deal with that tomorrow. In the meantime, my fever has come back and my coop needs cleaning.
If the masks are only single use and I clean my coop daily, sometime I scoop a couple of time if I'm down there with nothing else to do......is it realistic to pay $2.00 per mask? That will get really expensive!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

So the doctor listened to my lungs and thought I may have pneumonia. I had a chest X-ray and it came back negative. She wanted me to take antibiotics but I read antibiotics can make a fungal infection worse because it kills good bacteria that kill fungus. Luckily, the prescription was not at the pharmacy so I'll deal with that tomorrow. In the meantime, my fever has come back and my coop needs cleaning.
If the masks are only single use and I clean my coop daily, sometime I scoop a couple of time if I'm down there with nothing else to do......is it realistic to pay $2.00 per mask? That will get really expensive!

If you clean your coop daily, I frankly wouldn't worry about it. There won't be enough nasties in there to cause you a problem.

We do the deep-litter method, and clean out wet gunk about once a week. When we do a bit coop cleaning, it takes a couple of hours and many, many wheelbarrows full out to the compost pile.