Care for your flock with this “practical, common-sense, easy-to-read” guide to chicken keeping, filled with color photos (Michael Darre, PhD, Professor of Poultry Science, University of Connecticut). The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Backyard Chickens takes you through all aspects of small flock care, including feeding, housing, chicken health, and so much more! Known as The Chicken Chick, Kathy Shea Mormino brings her expertise on raising backyard chickens to millions of fans around the world through her wildly popular blog and social media. Now her down-to-earth approach to chicken-keeping is available in book form. Sharing her years of hard-earned experience and collaborations with poultry veterinarians, nutritionists, and professors, she provides simple steps to care for these uncommon pets with confidence. She guides newbie, veteran, and would-be backyard chickeneers through all aspects of small flock care—from getting started to housing, feeding, egg production, health, and beyond.
A Beginner’s Guide to Poultry Farming in Your Backyard Raising Chickens for Eggs and Food Table of Contents Introduction It Is Just Chicken Feed Sustainable Poultry Feed Crop bound Chickens Best Natural Food for Chickens Hatching Chickens How to Make an Incubator Fresh Water Supply Nesting boxes Free Ranging Birds Dust baths and Shed Floor Covering Bumble Foot Building Your Own Chicken Coop Egg Production Raising Broilers for the Market Well Ventilated Coops Protecting chickens from Predators Conclusion The Truth about Growth Promoting Feed Author Bio Introduction Ever since man found out that it was extremely easy to have domesticated sources of food, reared right in his yard, millenniums ago, is it a wonder that poultry especially chicken farming is one of the best methods to get easy access to a good source of food for your family? There is absolutely no country in the world, except perhaps the Arctic regions, – where man has not reared ducks, chickens and other poultry for table purposes down the centuries. Apart from these being an easy source of eggs to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, you also knew that you would have a tough old rooster for dinner, when a large number of family members popped in unexpectedly, demanding sustenance. We are going to be concentrating on chicken farming, for domestic purposes in this book. You have this dream of raising chickens in your backyard. You are interested in a continuous supply of eggs, and the occasional chicken for your pot of a Sunday. Layers are those chickens, which are normally raised for egg production. The chickens which are going to go straight into the pot are called broilers. Since ancient times, human beings have been raising poultry for domestic purposes and also for marketing purposes. Poultry farming has been a part of rural life in the east down the centuries. All the kitchen waste was fed to the hens. These hens came under the 21st century poultry farming term – free ranging. That meant they were allowed to scratch about in the backyard, getting their fill of insects, worms, green vegetables, organic matter, and was it a wonder that they laid delicious, nutritious, and proteinaceous eggs? Every intelligent householder kept three or four hens depending on the size of his family, and he bought a cock from the market, when he needed chickens. Once a clutch of chickens was hatched, Cocky Locky went into the cook pot. One of the common mistakes made by new poultry farmers is buying a large number of birds, because they are not very clear about whether they want these words for home consumption or they want to trade in the eggs and poultry meat. Around 50 years ago, one of my father’s colleagues was facing this problem. He had this huge garden and backyard. He had heard about dad rearing poultry in that garden successfully. So he also wanted to experiment in this exciting new activity which would keep his family well supplied with eggs, and fresh meat. So the next time dad went visiting to his base on a tour, he asked dad the best way to raise birds without too much of a hassle. You are going to get these easy tips in the book.
The Backyard Chicken Handbook is an authoritative guide, from a fourth-generation chicken keeper, bringing simple yet practical knowledge which covers all aspects of raising healthy and happy chickens. This handbook covers: selecting the perfect chicken breed, feeding your hens, healthy egg laying, chicken behavior (including bullying) and how-to treat common chicken health issues. The handbook is suited to both first time keepers and veterans by providing varying degrees of detail to keep both readers engaged. Full color photos and illustrations throughout provide specific examples of chicken anatomy, health and behavior.
TheHomesteader’s Natural Chicken Keeping Handbook is the modern homesteader’s guide to raising, feeding, breeding, selling, and enjoying the noblest animal on the farm—the chicken. From the rooster’s crow in the morning, to the warm egg in the nesting box, chickens are the gateway livestock for almost every homesteader and backyard farm enthusiast. In this book, you’ll learn everything you need to know about raising chickens naturally. Fewell guides you in: understanding why chickens do what they do creating your very own poultry or egg business preventing and treating ailments with herbal remedies setting up your property, coop, and brooder hatching chicks purchasing chickens properly cooking delicious recipes with your farm fresh eggs and poultry. This is heritage chicken keeping skills 101, with a modern twist. Not only will you gain knowledge about naturally keeping chickens through every stage of their lives, but you’ll fully embrace the joy and ease of raising all-natural chickens on your homestead.
Journalist and chicken-owner Gretchen Anderson chronicles the stories of people who are fighting City Hall for the right to own chickens. Find out how hen-keeping is ruffling feathers across the country. Also, learn the secrets to raising a healthy flock in your own backyard.
"Fresh Eggs Daily blogger Steele lays down as many tips and recipes as her chickens do eggs in this innovative and plucky collection.... This will be hard to beat." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Lisa Steele, fifth-generation chicken keeper and founder of the popular blog Fresh Eggs Daily, knows a thing or two about eggs. And she’s ready to show you just how easy and delicious it can be to make eggs a staple of every meal. First, Lisa will tell you everything you don’t know about eggs—such as what the different labels on grocery store egg cartons mean—and bust some common egg myths. From there, she provides you with foundational techniques for cooking with eggs, including steaming, grilling, baking, and frying. And finally, Lisa shares her go-to recipes for everything from breakfast staples, like eggs Benedict and a classic French trifold “omelette,” to breads, sandwiches, beverages, snacks, soups, salads, pasta, cakes, pies, and condiments. You’ll encounter a wide variety of both sweet and savory dishes with Lisa’s unique twists. Read The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook to discover new and exciting ways to incorporate fresh eggs into your cooking and baking repertoire each and every day.
A revised and updated bestseller Revised in coordination with the American Poultry Association Covers all the essentials of raising and keeping chickens. More than 75 color photographs and illustrations. People across the country are raising chickens, whether for food or companionship. You can, too, with this indispensable guide. Straightforward advice and dozens of clear, detailed illustrations gives any future chicken farmer the tools he needs to get started, from step-by-step instructions on building the coop to a brief background on chicken biology; from hints on getting high-quality eggs from the hens, to methods for butchering. Full-color photographs of the birds and their landscape round out this comprehensive book. This bestselling book has been completely revised and updated. Jay Rossier was coauthor of A New Lease on Farmland, published by the E. F. Schumacher Society, and wrote occasional book reviews for Northern Woodlands magazine.
Your hands-on guide to modern chicken-raising methods Thinking about raising chickens? You've come to the right place! This new edition of Raising Chickens For Dummies provides the most up-to-date, thorough information on the many aspects of keeping chickens in your backyard. Inside, you'll find hands-on, easy-to-follow instructions on choosing and purchasing chickens, constructing housing for your birds, feeding your chickens for optimal health, combating laying issues, controlling pests and predators, optimizing egg production, and much more. Raising chickens on a small scale is a popular—and growing—pastime. If you're interested in keeping chickens as pets or as a source for eggs, Raising Chickens For Dummies gives you plain-English explanations of everything you need to know to about caring for chickens. Inside, you'll learn about basic chicken biology, breeds, and behavior, which chicken breed is best for you, how many you need, ways to spot healthy chickens, how to build a chicken coop, best practices for mating your chickens, how to incubate eggs, how to hatch and nurture chicks, manage laying hens, collect and store eggs, and butcher meat birds. Offers practical advice on choosing and purchasing chickens Helps you construct the right housing for your chickens Provides tips on feeding and caring for your chickens Includes top tips for raising healthy chickens Whether you're a first-time poulterer or you've been raising chickens for years, this comprehensive guide provides practical how-to advice for keeping chickens in virtually any backyard. Raising Chickens For Dummies (9781119675921) was previously published as Raising Chickens For Dummies (9781118982785). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.
Got a little space and a hankering for fresh eggs? Robert and Hannah Litt have dispensed advice to hundreds of urban and suburban chicken-keepers from behind their perch at Portland’s Urban Farm Store, and now they’re ready to help you go local and sustainable with your own backyard birds. In this handy guide to breeds, feed, coops, and care, the Litts take you under their experienced wings and share the secrets to: Picking the breeds that are right for you • Building a sturdy coop in one weekend for $100 • Raising happy and hearty chicks • Feeding your flock for optimal health and egg nutrition • Preventing and treating common chicken diseases • Planning ahead for family, neighborhood, and legal considerations • Whipping up tasty egg recipes from flan to frittata With everything that first-timers will need to get started—along with expert tips for more seasoned keepers—this colorful, nuts-and-bolts manual proves that keeping chickens is all it’s cracked up to be.
