Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks: Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Guinea Fowl

I have read this book cover to cover twice. Extremely good material on the how(s) and why(s) of raising chickens from eggs or from chicks. There is a wealth of information in this book. There is both a high level overview and a detailed view on almost any topic that I can think of. I have eight chickens that lay about 35 eggs per week. I plan to increase my flock to 32 chickens now. I have purchased a number of books on Amazon regarding chickens and I put this book high on the list of "should have books". Another equally good book is "The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens". If you only bought these two books you would be very comfortable feeding your family with the eggs from your own garden. Update 8/11/14. I did not purchase new chickens to get to my goal of 32. Instead three of my hens provided baby chicks for the rest. I now have 12 adults (4 donations) and 20 chicks. This book was very helpful as I researched what to do for the new "peeps". The three hens hatched 23 chicks. Three died. This book helped me understand what to do and what not to do (and understand why we cannot do it all). One died in a half shell in the water container face down (even though this was for watering chicks). One was injured falling out of the nest (about 4 feet). I spent five days with a pen, heat lamps, hand feeding water) trying to save this one. The last one died having never been able to leave the shell (half out). In each case this book helped me understand what to do (sometimes telling me to wait it out). Nature can be cruel but knowledge can make us kind. Great book that I turn to every day as they grow. Amazing to watch the little ones run behind their mother as I bring out some "treats" for them. Grapes, mealworms, corn on the cob (from my garden), etc. If you like to care for animals, chickens are a lot of fun and this book helps understand what to do. 5 stars plus.

This book is very informative, containing information for the beginner with their first incubator to the experienced breeder. It includes "technical" information I could not find in other resources - For example, egg development, health issues of new hatchlings and causes of death or deformation, chick diseases and normal growth/development; deficiencies in your hens and potential negative outcomes to the chicks...to name just a few. I have read it cover to cover and keep going back to it to answer many questions. It is well written and easy to understand with many tables, charts, and pictures. Excellect resource. A must have for the serious breeder. For those who want to know more about raising and managing chickens throughout all life stages, I recommend Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens.

Was planning to hatch for the first time to see if it was all it was cracked up to be. This was very informative and easy to follow. Felt prepared to try, and our hatch was successful. Love these books thanks for yet another great one.

I like that this book is broken into two parts. One for raising chickens the other for incubating eggs. This is also a good book for understanding the mechanics of chickens, parts of the egg, different incubators and their uses functions etc. I really like how she gives you two perspectives of doing things modern as well as old fashioned... which may be helpful to someone on a budget or just likes to do things DIY style. Only thing I didn’t like about it is it was kind of wordy with explaining some pretty general topics.

Very informative and enjoyable to read.

My two goslings went lame and going through this book helped me figure out what was wrong and make a plan to fix it. The chick feed I was using was deficient for the goslings and I was able to suppliment and one gosling is perfectly fine now, and the other is back to only dealing with a deformed foot. Both are active and happy to be brooder moms to two chicks and a duckling. Thank You 😁

This book has helped me successfully hatch and raise chicks and poults. Great illustrations, diagrams and pictures. I’ve recommended it to many people.

Love everything about it and was ecstatic to see what my chicks looked like, from the inside of their shells daily, with the chart !! 10/10 recommend!! Recommended to me by my best friend!!

A must if u are hatching fertilised eggs very please thank u

excellent book :: must have

This comprehensive guide to hatching and brooding chicks has been a great resource alongside the backyard chicken group where everyone spouts out their experienced reams of knowledge to newbie chicken keepers who thought it was a brilliant idea to get 43 chicks to start and didn’t think about said chicks becoming full-grown chickens with nowhere to overwinter them! We survived the learning curve and the chooks did too! Of course, the following year is where this book came in handy, because 43 chickens apparently aren’t enough. Nothing like gaining experience by diving in and learning all the things! Several years later, I have a great Little Giant incubator that provides me with a dry hatch rate of 100% of viable eggs, which can be a problem when it holds 42 eggs cuz I sure don’t need 85 chickens! That said, I refer back to this book for something nearly every time I incubate. Highly recommend it. (I borrowed it from the library before purchasing to make sure it was a useful-to-me book - it was.)

Product was slightly water damaged but the fact that it was damaged was mentioned hence a much lower price. Book seems to be very interesting for the purpose I bought it for.

I just got my book to day and it is a very good book. I will tell any body who is looking for a hatching book to buy thus one it is very helpful. Thank you.