Poultry: Chickens

Laurence Beeken
J H Haynes & Co Ltd (4 Feb 2010)
ISBN-10: 1844257290
ISBN-13: 978-1844257294

One of the best, if not the best guide to keeping chickens, with help on all aspects, including choosing a breed, and obtaining your chickens. There's a lot of help with everyday care, and special considerations when the seasons change. There's advice on keeping a journal, hygiene and housing, including parasite control, and protecting your chooks from predators. Tender hearted chicken keepers may want to skip the advice on cooking! Generally, there is a lot of detail, though perhaps not quite enough in the section on building chicken houses. Overall, this book is highly recommended.

 Virginia Shirt
Elliot Right Way Books (1 April 2007)
ISBN-10: 0716030187
ISBN-13: 978-0716030188

This is an especially useful book for people keeping chickens in towns, and takes novices through every step of chicken keeping, including choosing the best place in the garden for your chicken house. There's a lot of help with feeding and rearing chicks, and with what to do if things go wrong, and your chooks fall ill. The book is very clearly written, so easy to understand in emergencies. If you can bear to eat your chickens, there is also advice on how to store and cook them. Total novices do need to research a little more before building a chicken house, because there is not really enough detail in this book. Michael Roberts' Poultry House Construction, also featured on this page, is probably the best guide to chicken house construction. However, as a general guide, Virginia Shirt's book can't be faulted.

Michael Roberts
Gold Cockerel Books
ISBN 0947870210

Chickens need to be safe, but ready-made chicken houses are expensive, so make your own. You can also build a chicken house and run which suits your own requirements by adapting designs in this book. There is detailed help on all aspects of building a chicken house, including plans for different types of houses, and the materials and tools that you will need. The explanations are clear enough to be understood by someone who is not especially skilled in carpentry, or even a DIY enthusiast. The designs can also be used for other birds and animals, such as ducks and rabbits.

Rick Luttmann
Rodale Press
ISBN: 0878571256

Rick Luttman's classic, well worth investing in for its common-sense advice on caring for chickens. Luttman obviously likes chooks, even though he is not above eating them. It's a good read, as well as an invaluable manual and troubleshooting guide to help you set up your chicken project, get your chickens happily laying.

Michael Roberts, John Tarren (Photographer)
Gold Cockerel Books
ISBN: 0947870113

The essential reference book for poultry keepers interested in different British chicken breeds. This is a well-illustrated slim volume, which has enough information for people wanting to choose a breed for show, laying or the table, and for people aiming a bit further than the common-or-garden varieties. The pictures are to drool over, and it's difficult to narrow down a choice to just one variety, there are so many beautiful contenders.

Janet Vorwald Dohner
Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300088809

This is a wonderful book, and you don't have to be a smallholder to appreciate it. It works on many levels. There is a simple fascination with the sheer variety of livestock and poultry breeds, and the arguments for preserving rare breeds are put forward in a very eloquent way. Both farming and medicine benefit from the livestock and poultry diversity. The book is comprehensive, and very well researched, and the author also has practical experience.

The book is based on research on breeds in the UK, Canada and the US. Some 200 breeds are described, covering different types of livestock, including horses, goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, and poultry (chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese. There are some 250 illustrations, with 32 pages colour plates. It's a little expensive, but well worth buying because it's such an enjoyable and fascinating book.

Gail Damerow
Storey Books
ISBN: 0882666118

The essential health handbook for people who keep a few chickens as pets or as a hobby. There is a lot of help with disease prevention as well as diagnosis and treatment of poultry diseases. It is easy to use, with special help for people trying to work out what is wrong with a chicken with particular symptoms. Some home remedies are described, as are indicators that expert help is needed.

Sainsbury
Blackwell Science (UK)
ISBN: 0632051728

This is more in-depth and more expensive than Gail Damerow's book, and you need to be able to handle information presented in a quite technical way. It's also more expensive than 'The Chicken Health Handbook', though you get more for your money. This edition has been updated to include new environmentally and welfare friendly methods of keeping chickens, and there is a lot more information than Damerow, for example on hygiene and usage of vaccines. There is also up-to-date information on best practice for nutrition, lighting, egg collection and housing, and there is useful information on legislation for people selling poultry products.

Frank T.W. Jordan, Mark Pattison, Dennis J. Alexander, Trevor Faragher Saunders
ISBN: 0702025976

A comprehensive guide to common and rarer poultry diseases affecting all types of poultry (including ducks, turkeys, guinea-fowl and game birds, as well as chickens). This references work has useful advice on prevention through best-practice husbandry. There is also information on diagnosis, treatment and control of diseases, and an account of the chicken industry, so it is suitable for vets and others who have a lot do to with the poultry industry. There are useful sections on public health and food safety. This edition has been revised and expanded, with a new chapter on game birds. It covers more ground than Sainsbury, and is the definitive work for poultry specialists. It is also more expensive than Sainsbury.