Average Customer Review: ( 63 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
161 of 161 found the following review helpful:
 This is THE book to get started raising chickens. Feb 28, 2001
By Melanie B. McMurry
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.
136 of 136 found the following review helpful:
It's the book that got me started Aug 25, 2000
By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
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!
80 of 81 found the following review helpful:
Best Book for Beginners Jan 26, 2001
By Jennifer Welch
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!
73 of 75 found the following review helpful:
I'm heading to the feed store to buy my chicks... May 17, 1998
By Kristin Summerlin
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.
48 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 Good book May 27, 2007
By " Anti Microchip "
"Jesus Christ can save your life."
This book is good for the beginner. However, I would strongly suggest having another reference in addition to this book. It was written in 1976, and some of the information is out of date (incubator temps and such). The strengths of this book are that it's easy to read, has a seperate chapter on roosters, and that they share thier own experiences and their own blunders. This book is a decent place to start, easy to read, and under a 150 pages. Not bad. I own "Keep Chickens" by Kilarski, "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens", and "Chickens" by Sue Weaver as well. Storey's Guide To Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow is more complete and up to date, but it's also more time consuming to get the information. "Keep Chickens" by Kilarski and "Chickens" by Sue Weaver are more up to date versions of this book, and Sue Weavers book in my opinion is superior of the three. If I had it to do over again I would have bought Sue Weavers book for getting up to speed, and Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow for more in depth information after I read Weavers book. Trust me I've looked at a lot of chicken books, and done a lot of reading. This book is decent, and it will give some good information, and I'm not sorry I bought it. However, there are better books out there. Gail Damerow and Sue Weaver have superior products in my opinion.
See all 63 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
based on 63 reviews
