
Chickens
Tending a Small-Scale Flock
Sue Weaver(Author)
Companion House (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 19. July 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-1-935484-60-8 (ISBN)
Description
Hobby Farms Chickens: Tending a Small-Scale Flock for Pleasure and Profit is geared toward the hobby farmer looking to begin his or her own flock of chickens on a small farm or even backyard. Author Sue Weaver, who keeps various exotic breeds and countless barnies on her farm, is an expert on all things livestock and an avowed chicken fanatic. This photo-filled guide begins with "Chickens 101" and details the physiology of chickens, members of the Phasianidea family, providing beginning hobby farmers with a basic education in the chicken's unique physical makeup (from wings and feathers to beaks and digestive tracts), behavior, mating, and its unexpected high intelligence. The author offers advice on choosing the right types of chickens to get started: meat, egg, or dual purpose, or maybe even "just for pets." The book is an excellent resource for selecting which breed of chicken is best for the hobby farmer, based on the birds' traits, such as aggression, personality, noise factor, tolerance for heat, confinement, cold, etc.
Chickens also provides information on selecting or building a suitable chicken coop for the hobby farmer's brood, outlining the basic requirements (lighting, ventilation, flooring, waterers, insulation, safety, and so forth). A detailed chapter on feeding chickens offers essential guidance on nutrition, commercial feeds, supplements, and water requirements. For the chicken hobby farmer looking to start with a clutch of baby chicks (from his own hen or an outside source), the author provides excellent info on incubators and hatching as well as all of the accommodations and preparation required for hens in the nest box. A chapter on selling eggs and broilers provides timetables, requirements, and dos and don'ts to get a hobby farmer's business off on the right foot. All chicken keepers will find the chapter on health of particular value, with expert advice on preventing common problems and dealing various maladies and diseases. Much detailed information about all of the topics in the book is encapsulated in sidebars. A glossary of over 125 terms plus a detailed resource section of chicken and poultry associations, books, and websites complete the volume. Fully indexed.
Chickens also provides information on selecting or building a suitable chicken coop for the hobby farmer's brood, outlining the basic requirements (lighting, ventilation, flooring, waterers, insulation, safety, and so forth). A detailed chapter on feeding chickens offers essential guidance on nutrition, commercial feeds, supplements, and water requirements. For the chicken hobby farmer looking to start with a clutch of baby chicks (from his own hen or an outside source), the author provides excellent info on incubators and hatching as well as all of the accommodations and preparation required for hens in the nest box. A chapter on selling eggs and broilers provides timetables, requirements, and dos and don'ts to get a hobby farmer's business off on the right foot. All chicken keepers will find the chapter on health of particular value, with expert advice on preventing common problems and dealing various maladies and diseases. Much detailed information about all of the topics in the book is encapsulated in sidebars. A glossary of over 125 terms plus a detailed resource section of chicken and poultry associations, books, and websites complete the volume. Fully indexed.
Reviews / Votes
"Chickens is a great introductory guide to raising a healthy flock of happy chickens. From hens to roosters, from layers to broilers, Weaver covers the essentials in a straight-forward style. You won't need to worry about your chickens flying the coop with this resource in hand." -- John Ivanko, co-author of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life "Chickens are the perfect hobby farm animal, and Sue Weaver's book Chickens is the perfect primer for anyone contemplating the addition of chickens to the farm--or in their backyard. Sue clearly covers the practical side of small-flock chicken farming-from selecting the right chicken to keeping them happy and healthy, and she delivers the goods with her trademark wit." -- Carol Ekarius, author of Hobby Farm: Living Your Rural Dream for Pleasure and ProfitMore details
Edition
Second Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Weight
497 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-935484-60-8 (9781935484608)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2011
CompanionHouse Books
€8.82
Available for download
Person
Sue Weaver has written hundreds of articles and nine books about livestock and poultry. She is a contributing editor for Hobby Farms magazine and writes the Poultry Profiles column for Chickens magazine. She lives on a small farm in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, which she shares with her husband of 37 years, a flock of Classic Cheviot sheep and a mixed herd of goats, horses large and small, a donkey who thinks she's a horse, two llamas, a riding steer, a water buffalo, a pet razorback pig, guinea fowl, and Buckeye chickens.
Content
Introduction: Why Chickens? Chapter One: Chickens 101 Chapter Two: Which Chickens Are Best for You? Chapter Three: Heritage Chickens Rule Chapter Four: City Chicks Chapter Five: Chicken Shack or Coop de Ville? Chapter Six: Chow for Your Hobby Farm Fowl Chapter Seven: Chicks, with or without a Hen Chapter Eight: Chickens as Patients Chapter Nine: Bucks for Clucks Chapter Ten: Fun with Chickens Pick of the Chicks Glossary Resources Chicken Stories