Keeping Chickens For Dummies

Town, country and in–between – your total guide to keeping chickens in any setting Whatever your reasons for wanting to make chickens part of your life, the best way to get started is with Keeping Chickens For Dummies – your one–stop guide to choosing, housing, feeding, breeding, showing, selling and tending most common varieties of gallus domesticus. Get up to speed with chickens 101 – immerse yourself in crucial chicken facts and figures, from basic biology and behaviours to common breeds and their varying requirements Choose wisely – find the ideal breed for your lifestyle and long–term goals, and discover how to plan and buy a healthy flock Set up home for your chickens – choose and build or buy a habitat for your flock, perform essential housekeeping and maintenance and keep your birds fat and happy Breed a brood – discover how to mate your chickens, incubate eggs and hatch and nurture chicks Be the Cheerful Reaper – manage laying hens, collect and store eggs, butcher meat birds and package and store meat ′For me, raising chickens, for eggs and meat, has beenone of the most enjoyable aspects of our family farm. I am a great admirer of "chicken whisperer" Pammy Riggs, and with her two co–authors she has produced an admirably thorough guide to enjoying the pleasures and avoiding the pitfalls of keeping chickens. Get the book, and take the feathery plunge!′– Hugh Fearnley–Whittingstall Open the book and find: Chicken–keeping basics The truth behind common misconceptions A gold mine of chicken health tips Do–it–yourself housing ideas The best feeds for different breeds How to ward off pests and predators How to optimise your layers′ laying The lowdown on raising meat birds Important legal considerations with keeping chickens Learn to: Feed and care for your chickens Breed and rear chickens Construct the perfect hen house Keep your chickens happy and healthy

Introduction 1 Part I: Choosing Chickens 7 Chapter 1: Enjoying Chicken–Keeping 9 Chapter 2: Understanding Basic Chicken Biology and Behaviour 23 Chapter 3: Getting Familiar with Chicken Breeds 41 Chapter 4: Buying Chickens59 Part II: Housing Your Flock 79 Chapter 5: Going House Hunting for Your Chickens 81 Chapter 6: Designing and Constructing Chicken Housing 105 Chapter 7: Furnishing and Housekeeping 129 Part III: Caring for Your Flock: General Management 145 Chapter 8: Feeding Your Flock 147 Chapter 9: Controlling Pests and Predators 173 Chapter 10: Keeping Your Flock Happy and Healthy 189 Chapter 11: Handling Health Problems 209 Part IV: Breeding: The Chicken and the Egg 237 Chapter 12: Breeding Your Chickens 239 Chapter 13: Incubating Eggs and Hatching Chicks 259 Chapter 14: Raising Chicks 289 Part V: Considering Special Management Issues 313 Chapter 15: Looking After Layers and Collecting Eggs 315 Chapter 16: Managing Meat Birds 341 Chapter 17: Taking Meat Birds through D–Day 351 Part VI: The Part of Tens 379 Chapter 18: More than Ten Tips for Keeping Healthy, Stress–Free Chickens 381 Chapter 19: More than Ten Misconceptions about Chickens and Eggs 387 Index 393

Pammy Riggs is a well–respected figure in the farming and food industry. She owns and runs the award–winning Providence Farm in Devon and has been a hands–on farmer and small–scale food producer for over 20 years. She has taught a variety of poultry–related courses around the UK, including the poultry–keeping course at River Cottage. Kimberly Willis has raised poultry for more than 30 years. Rob Ludlow runs BackYardChickens.com, the leading chicken–raising information resource on the Web.