Keeping Chickens: Self-Sufficiency

by Mike Hatcher

More and more Americans are becoming concerned about living a healthier and more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Whether it’s moving to the country and starting over on a whim or just making city- living a little simpler and easier, the “Green” movement is changing the way we live our day- to-day lives. Skyhorse's Self-Sufficiency handbooks are meant to help—offering advice on what to do, how to do it better, and how to save money as well. This is a beautifully illustrated series made even more beautiful, because its goal is to help everyone live in a more earth-friendly fashion.

This handbook provides an introduction to some of the key aspects of raising chickens. You don’t need a large space to raise and keep chickens, and most families find that they only need a couple of hens to keep them stocked with fresh eggs year-round. Packed full of information on the basic housing costs and requirements, food and water requirements, disease prevention, and breeding—this book also includes a comprehensive section on the breeds available, their specific requirements, and a list of resources. 100 color illustrations

Genres: Animals

128 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2010

Reviews

[M D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small book with a lot of info. Not overly detailed, and the hand drawn photos leave much to be desired. But I did take away a few good pointers.

[Sophia Keating · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy-to-follow introduction to chicken keeping, though there was some scientific misinformation in it, especially when talking about vaccines.

[Anna Katherina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book for getting you started with Chickens. That being said, the information is a bit thinner than most other books that I've read and I would suggest using it in conjunction with a much more in depth guide to Poultry; on its own, there simply isn't enough information here to give you a full knowledge base.

That being said, however... It does have some great topics that aren't usually discussed in other guides. These include the different types of Chicken Runs and Houses (such as the Apex or Rectangle), different feed types (like table scraps), Winterization for cold climates, how to deal with Flock Bullying and pests, and more. It also touches better on some basic breeds- including average weight ranges, climate performance, and a nice full color illustration of the breed standard.

All in all, it's definitely a good starting place even if I would suggest moving on to a much larger guide at some point.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic info