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← Return to Gardening with Bronch and MAC
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I too am glad not to have to give up my outside potted flowers and few houseplants. Thanks for all the good suggestions. I do wonder about the chickens though. Is it because they scratch the dirt, the chicken poop and or more? We don’t have chickens but we sometimes visit friends with chickens and where we stay is usually next to the chickens. They have a very small barn and the chickens roost on one side but run free near it. When we visit, we usually park our small camper just in front of the barn because we can hook up to water and electricity there. We basically just sleep there and walk across a pasture (grass, no bare dirt) to the house each day. We don’t open our windows there but run the a/c or heat depending on the weather. I know this is such an odd scenario. Is it safe to be staying so close to chickens?
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Hello, I can see you have been with us on Mayo Connect for a while, and this is your first post - Welcome!
When considering risk in any situation concerning airborne pathogens, unless it is something extremely toxic, the elements to assess are LENGTH of exposure, NEARNESS to the source, and CONCENTRATION of the toxin.
So digging in the dirt, with your face near it, for a relatively long time, exposes you to a higher level of the toxin. Staying in a closed building next to the source, not handling or interacting with the birds, where the airborne contaminant is highly diluted & becoming more so as it travels away from the birds, exposes you to a lower level.
It is a situation that I would be comfortable in - it pretty well describes my long term proximity to the feral chickens where I live. We took one more step to protect ourselves, we bought a well-rated HEPA air filter, sized for our home, and run it full time. One additional advantage - it protects my silly lungs from mold spores, dust mites & other things that inhabit seasonal dwellings, no matter how careful we are.
Do you have MAC or bronchiectasis?
Sue