Review: Considering getting chickens? This is for you!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2014
This book starts off with some of the many 'bads' of factory chicken farming and suggests that the much better alternative is to raise your own if at all possible.Raising chickens and growing a garden go hand in hand. Feed the chickens your kitchen vegetable scraps and they will supply you with fertilizer.Chickens can be good therapy. I can really attest to this. We LOVE to watch our chickens scurrying around and our children will often be seen with one in their arms. Chickens do not answer back or give you a hard time, being extremely tolerant of young hands.How much space do you need? A lot of helpful info is provided along with a picture to give you an idea for an enclosed coup if you do not want them running loose.Do you need to purchase the "Hilton" of chicken coups? This author provides plenty of practical advice on building/buying your coup on a budget if this is an important consideration of yours PLUS he also gives some great advice on how to prevent loss.What breed is right for your situation? Many options are discussed.How and what should you feed your chickens? A commercial feed is always an option but the author also provides some lists of "natural" foods you can feed and also ones you should not feed.How can you best care for them in winter? Some great practical advice is given here.As someone who has raised free range chickens for years I was interested to read what this author had to say on the subject. Have to say that overall I was impressed! One comment I did not agree with was this - "Let your chickens loose in your garden for an hour or two every day." That is a great idea if you have nothing growing in it but chickens can devastate a growing garden especially seedlings so I recommend you have your garden well fenced and only allow them in when it is fallow or where you are growing a well established root crop etc  like potatoes. Enjoy your chickens!