The Backyard Chicken Book: A Beginner's Guide

A must for beginners, I'm a year into this and still find this very useful.

My daughter loves this book and has found it very helpful.

Original publish 1979. Revised 2014. Knowledge founded on the education of raising chickens that began in childhood learning from his mother, and continued in the credits given in the three Sources pages in the back of the book. One hundred and eighty-seven pages, a good dozen color pictures, an equal amount of black and white pictures and diagrams of equipment and coop construction with measurements. There are plenty of charts that help troubleshoot diseases, diet and feeding, and even how to make a good barbeque sauce. There are thirteen chapters starting with what you can expect from a poultry flock; which breed is best for you; how to start your home poultry flock; brooding chicks; rearing laying flock pullets; managing for more eggs; the hen has a marvelous assembly line (discussing the internal magic of producing an egg); when the hen stops laying; fast-growing meat birds; How to butcher your meat birds; housing for your home poultry flocks; how to fight disease and pest problems, raising ducks, geese, turkeys, bantams, and guinea fowl. As mentioned previously there is a great three pages to look up reference material from other Sources, as well as an Index for quick location of pages. The author mixes in fond memories of the good and bad with practical knowledge necessary for keeping those precious little fluff balls alive until they've completed the cycle of life whether a barnyard pet or as a Fourth of July cookout. Definitely worth the buy. Unlike a few first readers selling themselves as "Beginner" books that teach you nothing, this one will help you. I've just sixteen pullets, six ducks, and a free range of over nine acres. I'll never do the five hundred his family ran but I know from his book how I could... Gotta watch out for the chicken math though.

Shipping was fast...hope my grandson can learn some chicken tips with this book.

This book seems to aim at talking people OUT of keeping chickens. The information is poorly organized, terms aren't defined, and the relatively few photos that are included don't do much to enlighten. I was really hoping to find a book with easily accessible info, but I'll stick to online resources for now.

lots of coop types in it

I was gifted this book when I got my small flock going. The title is misleading. This book is not just for the small, backyard operation. This book covers the scope from small, backyard hobby to larger, commercial farms. The book is much more expert than I’d expected. Seems very well organized to me. Covers attributes of a variety of common breeds to help you select the breed to meet your needs; covers housing, feeding, watering, reproduction, sanitation, troubleshooting, healthcare, etc. It does take some intelligence and common sense to understand some of the concepts that are included, sort of a “read between the lines”. For example, he talks about breaking a broody hen. He discusses the common practice of using a broody cage, essentially a bird cage that you place food and water in and suspend 2 feet off the floor for a couple of days. He jokes about a couple of days “in solitary”. If you don’t see the concept, you can think it sounds cruel. The concept is the cool the hen off because she’s overheated. I don’t have a cage or kennel. So I simply put a hen in an isolated yard, rinsed her feet and chest in a little wading pool, and blew 2 fans over her all day for 2 days. It worked. The concept is to physically cool off the bird. So if you approach the book with your feelings in stow and your head on straight, the book is an incredible resource. Mine is now full of highlights and underlines. Highly recommended!