Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide

This is the one book I found most helpful when I started raising my flock of laying hens. I can run to this book when I have a question or concern, and the information is usually there. Thanks to this book, I have not only raised many a hen from 2 day old chick, but hatched out my own broods in an incubator. This is the book I recommend when I am helping others get started raising hens, and they have had equal success. The majority of the book is information on how to care for your birds, rather than focusing on the butchering of chickens. The one (yes, only one) chapter on butchering is straight forward. It approaches the subject knowing the beginner butcher will be a bit squeemish and nervous, and takes that into account. Many other poultry books read like instruction manuals, but this book is written with humor and sensitivity. That is what makes it a great read, as well as an instructional one.

I started my backyard flock with only this book for reference. It's got really good information and is a really fun read - lots of humor mixed in with the great information. If you're thinking about starting a small flock and you're a beginner, this is the book you should buy. It's got great information including a chapter with basic poultry terminology, info on hatching chicks, chicken diseases, raising chickens for eggs or for meat, and a whole lot more. And it's all written in everyday English that even a girl from the city like me can understand. Buy this book!

We live on a hobby farm in Minnesota, and this is the book that got me started with my flock of happy hens. It's written in plain, down-to-earth English for the rank beginner who wants to keep chickens on a small scale for eggs, meat, or just the pleasure of having them around. It's especially nice for the free-run flock, with instructions on choosing breeds, raising chicks, housing, nutrition, hatching your own chicks under broody hens or in an incubator, etc. A must-have for anybody who is thinking about keeping chickens. Lots of humor, too!

Just moved to a two-acre home in Alaska, and the dirt yard reminded me of the old folks -- and their chickens -- back home. Memories are great; it all seemed easy to a child back there. But could I really do it: Raise my own little flock in North Pole, Alaska, where it's dry dry dry and the temperatures can dip to -50 and stay there in the winter?The answer is yes, and thank goodness for this book and for those who reviewed it before me. I now have enough information to know how to talk to poultry folk in their lingo, what questions to ask, how to build a proper coop, which breeds are better for eggs and which for fryers, what to do about vermin and predators... In short, everything I needed to convince me that I can do it. And that I want to do it.No wonder this book is a classic.Got my biddy box ready... Goin' to the feed store.

This book is a must for those new to the world of backyard chicken raising.It presupposes no prior knowledge, is written in an entertaining and step-by-step style, and will have you laying eggs in days! Everything is here: From building coops to chicken behavior, it's all here. If your wondering where to start then read on....