Bathtub Chickens

I am rather hesitant to write about this because the last thing that I want to do is to discourage someone from trying to become more self-reliant or self-sufficient. However, I have been seeing a recent trend among the urban homesteaders that is not only troubling, but downright dangerous, and that is raising chickens in your home in the bathtub  Aside from the fact, that it is very cruel to the chickens to be kept in such a cramped and confined space, never seeing the outside world, it also, in my opinion, can be a huge health risk. In fact I will go so far as to say it also is a life threatening thing to do.

There are many diseases that people can get from chickens. I know this to be a fact because my Dad had to have part of one of his lungs removed because of his exposure to chickens that resulted in tumors in his lung. The only time he was exposed to chickens was at chore time. We absolutely did NOT keep chickens in our home. We kept them in 1,000 sq ft chicken house that had plenty of ventilation and they had outdoor space as well . If you doubt me on the health risks from being exposed to the dust and chicken poo, I would invite you to research airborne pathogens from chickens. I can assure you that the results from your research will give you cause to at least pause and reconsider doing that.

The main reason given by homesteaders and preppers for raising  chickens is that they do so for the protein from the eggs. Here is a surprise...there really isn't that much protein in a egg. A large grade A egg only has 6 grams of protein in it. Since protein is present in almost everything that we eat, let us compare the amount of protein in an egg to other foods:

1 large egg – 6 grams of protein

• ½ cup of green sweet peas – 8 grams of protein
• 1 cup milk – 8 grams of protein
• 4 wheat crackers – 2 grams of protein
• 1 slice of bread – 2 grams of protein
• 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter – 7 grams of protein
• ½ cup of peanuts – 18 grams of protein
• 1/2 cup tofu – 10 grams of protein
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes – 1.53 grams of protein
• 1 cup bean sprouts – 3 grams of protein

And the list goes on, but I think that is enough to show that there are other foods and means (like buying dehydrated eggs for example) where one can get protein without having to risk the health and well-being of not only yourself but also your family.

Of course all of that does raise the question of, “How much protein does a person need each day?” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following:

Recommended Dietary Allowance for Protein
	Grams of protein needed each day
Children ages 1 – 3	13
Children ages 4 – 8	19
Children ages 9 – 13	34
Girls ages 14 – 18	46
Boys ages 14 – 18	52
Women ages 19 – 70+	46
Men ages 19 – 70+	56

Women who are pregnant should eat 10 more grams a day and women that are nursing should eat 20 more grams a day.

Another thing to consider about raising chickens inside your home is, if there is a WROL situation, how are you going to feed your chickens? How will you discard their feces? Some breeds of chickens get sick easily, how will you handle that?

I am not wanting to discourage anyone from raising chickens IF you have outdoor space to do so. Chickens make for awesome pets as well as a food source. Just please, do it in a responsible and safe manner. 

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. :-)