Chickens In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide

by Gail Damerow, Gail Luttmann

Your backyard can be the source of the best eggs and meat you've ever tasted. The answer is chickens--endearing birds that require but a modest outlay of time, space and food.

As they learned to raise chickens, Gail and Rick Luttmann came to realize the need for a comprehensive but clear and nontechnical guide. Their book covers all the basics in a light and entertaining sytle, from housing and feeding through incubating, bringing up chicks, butchering, and raising chickens for show.

Througout the book, the Luttmanns express their wonder at the personalities of chickens--the role of brash protector played by roosters, and the instinctive motherliness of the hens. Given some freedom and attention, these birds can become much more than the egg-and-meat machines of commercial hatcheries and broiler factories. Chickens provide backyard farmers with enjoyable pastime, as well as a supply of good food.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Animals, Food, Gardening

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Gail Damerow and her husband operate a family farm in Tennessee where they keep poultry and dairy goats, tend a sizable garden, and maintain a small orchard. They grow and preserve much of their own food, make their own yogurt and ice cream, and bake their own bread. Gail has written extensively on raising livestock, growing fruits and vegetables, and related rural skills. She shares her experience and knowledge as a regular contributor to Backyard Poultry and Countryside magazines, as an occasional contributor to numerous other periodicals, and as the author or contributor to more than a dozen country skills how-to books.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful first book about backyard chickens! Good starting point.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chickens in Your Backyard is all anyone needs to know to raise chickens!

Chickens in Your Backyard is newly revised and updated. It includes how to set up a coop, a run and a home for your new chickens. There are chapters on feed, eggs, water, cleaning, disease, breeding and incubation. Showing and butchering chickens are also covered. The book concludes with the pros and cons of starting your flock with eggs, chicks, young or mature chickens. Along the way, the author provides lists of breeds for different goals (friendliest, best layers, biggest breasts).

I love the tips in Chickens in Your Backyard. They obviously come from a someone with a true love of all things chicken. Here are some examples:
-Spring is the best time to purchase chicks and begin your chicken experience. However, young and mature chicken prices are much lower in the fall.
-Chicken cannibalism is catching!
-Egg sexing is a myth.
-Butchering chickens one day can lead to becoming vegetarian the next.

As a city girl, raising chickens seems like a good way to go back to my family’s midwestern roots. Chickens are allowed where I live. I hear a rooster or two each morning. I didn’t think about how hard it would be to protect them from hawks and heat where I live in the High Desert. Maybe when I retire and have more free time, I’ll get a few bantams. When I do, I’ll be sure to have this book by my side. 5 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Rodale Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since we bought our home, I've been very interested in keeping a few chickens for eggs, garden fertilization, and general cuteness. I think ruffled featherbutts are so cute!

This is the first of a few books I've acquired to school myself in the art of raising chickens and I've found it to be quite informative and accessible. For instance, did you know that eggs shoot out of the same chickenhole that the droppings come out of? And that they're enveloped in a fancy damp membrane that dries almost instantly after laying and serves to protect the egg from all the germies in the outside world?

I'm a bit concerned about this whole coop thing, though. I want the eggs to be easily accessible and the coop to be sheltered from cold/wind, however I don't want the stink adjacent to my house. I'd rather use that space for a hot tub (like that's going to happen anytime soon!). This book tells me that free-ranging the birds in my yard may not be the best idea, although I'm hoping this is the alarmist overprotective version of chicken advice and that some of these other books will give me a realistic picture that coincides with what I want to hear. We'll see about that!

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I’ve been vaguely thinking about getting some rescue chickens for my back garden. The problem is that I don’t really know what’s what, and so I thought I’d grab a book that could teach me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find this to be particularly approachable, in part because so much focus is given to raising chickens for eggs, meat and chicken shows. All I really need to know is how to give chickens a comfortable retirement, and so while there were a few things I could pick up here and there, a lot of the book just wasn’t relevant to me.

So that leaves me in an interesting position, because I don’t really know what to do next. If I do get chickens then I think I’ll need another book, so there’s that. Huh.

[Laura Leilani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very amusing. Lots of advice on keeping chickens but it’s the silly stories and playful way it’s written that made the book fun.

[ofits · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information, but it was written in the 70's. I wonder how much has changed? Anyway, a good starting point and a good reference book to hold on to.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have been keeping hens for a while, this would all be information you already know from experience, although there were a few bits about hatching chickens in an incubator, which I didn't know, as well as how to kill a chicken and pluck it, but then, that is not why I have chickens, so that would make sense. And all the eggs that have hatched have been done by my hens.

But, for a new owner of hens, or someone thinking of getting hens, this could save your life, and that of your hens.

The author likes to poke fun, at mistakes new owners have made, to make a point. She tells the story of the man who left his coop open once, and didn't lose any hens, over night, so figured he could do it forever. A week later, predators had eaten all his hens. Or the story she tells of a man who said the milk had dried up on his hen, and she wasn't feeding her chicks, and what was he supposed to do. Hint, hens are not mammals.

Good solid, practical information. More a reference book, then a read cover to cover kind of book, though I did.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is no nonsense, anything and everything you’d ever need to know about chickens. Helpful, encouraging, unassuming. Perfect for me as a complete newbie! Highly recommend this book if you know nothing to very little about chickens. Help building coops, runs, what to do if your chickens are sick, what they might be sick with, temperaments of different breeds, helps against predators, basics of feeding and watering...and so much more. Best $3 chicken book I’ve ever purchased. I won’t be passing this one on to a friend, because I’ll be referring back to it often!

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my bible on learning how to do the chicken thing. It explains things in the most basic terms which is just what we needed. It's very realistic for all levels of chicken farmers! So far we haven't lost one and we raised them from baby chicks! (Knock on wood!!) We will butcher most of the roosters at the end of the month and will have fresh eggs hopefully later on this fall. It's really been quite fun!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess for a beginners book this was ok - but it left me wanting more. I wanted more in depth information on just about every topic it brought up. If you knew absolutely nothing, about chickens other than you want some for eggs or meat, this would be a good place for you to start.

I think since I raised chickens as a kid I already knew most of this stuff.

I was good enough to get one safely started with a small flock of chickens though...

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introductory book. Written from the perspective of a couple who have raised them for eating, laying, entertainment.

Information is well organized and cross referenced. Lots of hand drawings that were useful to illustrate what was being described.

The organization allowed me to skip the chapters I didn't care about (show birds and butchering) because I'm keeping chickens only for weed eating and entertainment/pets.

[Ellen Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chickens In Your Backyard was a really nice, humorous introduction to keeping chickens. It covered many different aspects of chickens that I haven't found in other beginner's books, such as hatching your own eggs in an incubator (a tricky process!). I appreciated the chapters on keeping birds for meat, and the details of how to butcher a chicken at home. Some other books I've read shy away from this topic, as if the only reason to keep backyard chickens is for the eggs.

[Mace · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you ever decide to take a spin on the poultry wild side, this is a great beginners book to get you started , how to raise and care for your chickens.Make sure to include Aracauna hens in your flock, I just love the green- blue eggs for breakfast...Also, bantam Silkie and bantam cochins are terrific as pets.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great guide for people (like me) that are just getting started with chickens. I skipped the chapters I wasn't interested in or that didn't apply to me, and found the other information very helpful.

I like the friendly, conversational style of writing. The Luttmanns feel like neighbors giving tips.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. It was easy to understand and a quick read. It gave me a good overall understanding of what would be involved in raising chickens. It gives pros and cons of raising from eggs, chicks, or getting full grown birds. Evey aspect is briefly touched on. I will need a more in depth book but now I know chickens are for me.

[Kitten Kisser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little paper back book is full of useful information. We checked it out from the library so many times it started to fall apart. I figured if we are reading & needing it that much, it's time to buy the thing! It gives you information on raising chickens, culling, & housing. It is easy to read and understand. This book is a must read for any chicken beginner.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted, this book isn't for everyone. But if you, like me, find yourself early one spring with 4 baby chicks living in cardboard box under a heat lamp in your dining room and you realize you have no idea what to do next, well then, this is the book for you.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for starters, though for a Rodale publication I expected more on natural apporaches to health. The authors advocated medicines/vaccines and I know most in my shoes would rather not use these, if possible. A fast read-piqueing interest in more in depth publications.

[Felicia A Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know if my neighbors would be happy with me having chickens in my backyard...I live in the city, and the backyards are close together. But this book is all encompassing and very informative should I ever decide to do it.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great "starter" book--like sitting down with the chatty neighborhood chicken-keeping expert. Covered some stuff I've been wondering, like "what about dogs?" and "will they eat up my entire garden?" A good one to take out from the library, but not the definitive chicken source.

[Meryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read on backyard chicken keeping so far. The only think that would make it better would be a detailed coop plan, but other than that it's perfect for the level of chicken-keeping I want--i.e. 4 birds, not 40.

[Abigail Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the book I highly recommend if you interested in raising chickens. It is the first we read before we got chickens and have referred back to it many times.

It is an easy read and not only educational but also very entertaining.

[Nicole Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the only book about taking care of chickens I could find at my library. It answered all of my questions I had. Adding oyster shells to their diet was a great suggestion. I also learned how to keep my chickens cool in this hot weather. This book covers the basics. It was helpful.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay, chickens!

[Bill Braine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I added another star for this one, as I keep coming back to it NOW THAT I HAVE CHICKENS in my BACKYARD. And so far, everything it tells me is right.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

good info, but some of it is out of date. better to get a new book with the same good info up to date

[Dkmaude · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything and everything you always wanted to know about keeping chickens...

[Candn Gossman]

good intro to city chickens

[Barb Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic information on starting a flock.

[Arne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good start-off point for anyone who may want to do this. Includes references to other resources.