I was scrolling through social media and ran across a salacious headline. "Backyard Chicken Coops Linked to Disease Outbreak in Oklahoma." Being that it's social media, I thought it was more fake news meant to drive urgent and valuable clicks, but after a quick Google search, this appears to be true.

Is your Oklahoma backyard chicken coop poisoning you?

It stems back to May when a shockingly large salmonella outbreak spread across the country with several cases included here in the Sooner State. After as thorough an investigation as the government does, they tied the entire outbreak to backyard chicken coops.

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The trend of backyard chickens, raising your own eggs, and the quasi-animal husbandry of all sorts of fowl things have grown in popularity as inflation has skyrocketed under the current administration, these people are learning the hard way how to protect themselves from their tasty pets.

Birds carry and spread disease. Plain and simple. It's because they're not smart enough not to do their own business in the food and water supply, hence they end up consuming their own feces more often than not.

This is apparently not common knowledge, and it's not just a risk from not washing eggs or cooking chicken all the way through. You can contract salmonella by touching fouled chickens or even coming into contact with common surfaces in and around their coop.

Say what you want about cruel caged factory chicken farming, producers spend tons of money ensuring a clean environment to cut down on vet and medicine bills.

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Does that mean you shouldn't raise your own chickens and eggs? Of course not. Any gardener will tell you, there's nothing tastier than a meal you grew yourself... you should just educate yourself on things like food safety and other homestead-type of things.

Where to learn this stuff.

Well, the internet is filled with tons of forums and videos dedicated to this very subject. There will also be a symposium on Urban Homesteading, specifically raising your own chickens and produce at the Oklahoma State Fair this year. If you're so inclined, it should be an interesting introduction to your new backyard hobby.

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