Do you think there are any health risks (thinking lungs/breathing) to boarding a horse at a stable which also has a chicken barn (layers)? It’s not a huge operation - just one barn with likely 5000 birds, but the barn is right beside the indoor arena. The outdoor arena is on the other side, and the turn out is mostly on the other side as well.
Do you think a situation such as this could cause damage to a horse’s lungs/airways?
I don’t know but as the owner of a horse with heaves, I wouldn’t chance it.
FWIW there was a Heartland episode about the health risks of chickens and horse feed.
But Google chickens horse feed hay. Apparently there may be some benefits. Just don’t let the horses eat the chickens’ feed.
Avian flu is starting to jump species. It’s in cows.
For many years, ionophores have been used to control coccidiosis in poultry,
Horses are very susceptible to ionophore toxicity; the lethal dose is less than 1/10th of the amount that can be safely fed to cattle .
I am not sure feed would be an issue. the Chickens live in a barn and are fed in the barn. The feed is kept in a hopper that feeds directly into the barn. More just wondering about the air quality being an issue.
Such as: would you buy a horse that was kept meters from a commercial chicken farm? Would you board a horse on a property with a commercial chicken barn right next to it?
Are those cows kept with chickens/on a chicken farm or is the illness being brought to the farm by workers or by wild birds?
I don’t know. They are finding fragments for f bird flu virus in the pasteurized milk supply in the US
5,000 chickens isn’t a lot, in the grand scheme of industrialized food production. The big CFAOs keep 20,000-50,000 or more in the big houses (according to a casual google search). I’d look into the owner’s bio-security measures. If the chicken facility is kept clean and well-managed and you can’t smell it as you go about your business, it might be ok. Ask the owner what measures they take to ensure the health of the birds, and of the humans who work in the chicken area. If ppl habitually walk directly from the chicken area to the equine area, that’s a problem. But it’s possible they have a good plan and follow applicable local regulations. Probably best to talk to whoever is in charge, ask them about bio security and their avian influenza plan. Their answer (or lack of one) may help you decide.
I’d be nervous about it right now because of the avian flu situation.
I just listened to the NYT podcast on this. Avian flu has been around in wild birds for a long time, and it periodically spreads to chickens, leading to a lot of chickens needing to be culled. What’s different now is that bird flu has jumped to numerous mammals–cows, sea lions, cats and more. And there appears to be some cow-to-cow transmission. Scientists are worried that with so much avian flu in mammals, it will mutate to become easier and easier to transmit among mammals, including humans.
With all that going on, I would honestly find it hard to park my horse right next to a chicken barn.
But I’m not a scientist. I’m just reacting to all the media attention that is suddenly on bird flu. I’d love to hear from the science-y forum members.
Any factory farm type situations are not particularly healthy for horses, or humans, or other species of animal. Fresh air, fresh water, companionship without crowding, and room to move is key to both mental and physical health. Choose wisely for yourself and the animals you are responsible for.
It’s going to smell. Especially when they clean out the barn. I am not going to panic or otherwise make comments on avian flu and horses because I don’t have enough data on that.
It wouldn’t be on the top of my list, but I know that options can be very slim in some locations. Are there any other barns that could suit your needs?
There are some health risks, avian flu aside, that are present when horses and chickens coexist though.
I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, aka the home of Perdue Chicken and Mountaire Chicken. We also have a big Tyson Chicken operation near us. None of us out here would have horses if chickens and horses were an issue. As long as the facility is clean and the chickens arent pooping in the horse barn you are fine. I wouldn’t keep my horse IN the chicken barn due to the extra dust, but it sounds like this is separate areas.
If the care is great, it would not bother me.
Lots of people have chickens and horses.
I believe that the working theory is wild birds because the herds are far apart (info from the farm show)
I have clients (farrier) who have meat chicken barns, they have pretty strict biosecurity so surprised the arenas are close to the chicken barn, mine are all seperated by probably at least 100yds and you don’t wander over, have only smelt them if they have the barns open being cleaned out. The air quality issues with chickens will be from the feather dust and ammonia from the bedding, so I would think as long as you are not riding when they are stripping out the barns you are probably fine. I would be more concerned about manure handling - if they pile close to the paddocks and there is run off (as opposed to a proper manure facility and dead stock composting) or any chance of a feed spill reaching the paddocks.
Yes, that was the impression I got from the NYT podcast. Wild birds will sometimes defecate in fields, ponds, or even food troughs that the cows have access to. But now it appears there is cow-to-cow transmission.
But since it’s so prevalent in wild birds anyway, maybe stabling near a chicken barn doesn’t raise the risk appreciably.
Yes I wondered about biosecurity as well.
If the horse barn and arena are physically different structures than the chicken house, while it will be smelly, I wouldn’t worry about the horses. I have a heaves horse and would wonder if the ammonia levels in the air would aggravate him. Also, I have chickens. 6 of them. Not 5,000 of them 
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