Good Reference books on RAising Chickens

[SKF]

Does anyone have a good reference book about raising chickens? I will be raising them for meat and eggs. I had chickens as a child and can remember some things, but I would like a good book to fill in the blanks. Thanks in advance

 

[lupinfarm]

IF you haven't been there already, Backyardchickens.com/forum

 

[keljonma]

Try doing a search on books, as there are already a number of threads about good books here. And like LupinFarm stated, BYC has a lot of information available too.

Gail Damerow's Chicken Health Handbook is good basic book for health problems. But she doesn't have anything for someone interested in a more natural path to raising a flock.

Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living has a lot of great information.

And there is a LOT of knowledge on this site and as a group we prove that there are MANY ways to correctly raise chickens.

typo

 

[Hiedi]

Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living has a lot of great information.

Oh, thanks for mentioning the Encyclopedia of Country Living. I actually have that book on my shelf and had forgotten all about it. Unfortunately, I am having trouble logging into the BYC forum so I can not even do a search on that website for information.

 

[me&thegals]

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. Very good, practical information on meat, egg and show chickens.

 

[hoosier]

Storey's Guide and Gail Damerow's Chicken Health Handbook which were mentioned are excellent.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Nifty-Chicken is the co-author of a new book about raising chickens. It was just announced this past week. Here's a link to a thread about it on BYC:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=220713

 

[davaroo]

There have been advancements in common knowledge that is helpful, particularly on nutrition. Most of the new books share a lot of that. We are actually in a third "Golden Age" of poultry rearing and there is a lot of information out there.

But, today's modern books may miss things that you might could benefit from. Much has been forgotten that once was known as useful.

The old books, written before today's authors were born are full of the simple information that lets you be successful without a lot of money or complication. They are also cheap on the used market.

There are also a lot of books available on line for free. Several are about as complete as you need them to be and with just those you can have about all you need in the way of reference.

SO you really need to ask, how modern do I want it to be - and how much will I pay?

 

[Anny]

You must visit Backyardchickens.com, they just came out with a book as well. The forum is very very helpful.

 

[davaroo]

You must visit Backyardchickens.com, they just came out with a book as well. The forum is very very helpful.

I agree. I have been a member at BYC almost since it began - in fact, I was on the original one before the "new" one in question came into being.

There are a lot of good things to learn there, although you have a lot of filtering to do because of all the responses. Some are just noise, some are good info. And unless you have specific questions, a general overview can be hard to come by.

I would recommend a good book, first and foremost. There are many; some new, some old. I personally prefer the old books, myself. But regardless, little can compare with a concise reference book, in hand. I could make suggestions, but I'd be here all night, there are so many good ones.

I suggest you go to alibris.com and search "chickens." Many sound used books will come up, fitting any budget.