Customer Reviews

Choosing and Keeping Chickens

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book after reading customer reviews on it. I was not disappointed. Very easy to understand, well written, to the point, and informative. The book is 200 pages and 100 pages of it is on different breeds of chickens. Other topics covered in the book are: Caring for chickens, how to protect against predators, showing chickens, chicken housing, a brief chicken history, chicken diseases and care, feeders and waterers, incubation and hatching, and others. This book excels at getting you up to speed quick. I love it!!! This book also uses actual photos which is a plus since most chicken books use drawings. In my opinion the photos really help bring this book to life especially in the chicken breeds section. This is the chicken book I found the most informative and useful out of the eight that I own.

This book is really fresh & enjoyable. It has a 'Which Breeds' chapter, which explains how to choose the type of chicken that'll be best suited to you. How to raise, show, handle and incubate chicks. It has over 50 breeds featured, which are broken down into sections. Plus it has the 'Personality' section on each breed; which is one feature most other chicken books do not include. Granted, that this book is British authored and many American founded chicken breeds are not included in the 50 breed 'Personality' section. I loved the fact that it listed which breeds were more suited to beginners and the ones best left to the more experienced handlers. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in chickens.

This book has really great information about the many different breeds of chicken and answers many questions, such as:

-Which breeds are gentle and docile/best for children?
-Which breeds are aggressive or avoid humans?
-Which are noisy or quiet?
-Best or poor layers?
-Difficult to breed?
-Have special husbandry requirements (fencing, footing, housing, etc.)?

This is a great book for those new to chickens or those considering a new breed. As we all know, "you can't judge a book by its cover"-- the same idea applies to chickens! This book can help families avoid choosing a breed for the wrong reasons (and thus avoid a negative experience with chickens). It also helps those new to chickens understand that not all breeds can live under the same conditions-- e.g. while some are happy in relative confinement, others will harm each other or be miserable when in close confinement and need to be allowed to range freely. Some chickens are cold-hardy while others are not suited to freezing winters. Etc. etc.!

This book can help families find what they are looking for (a friendly pet, a great layer, a hen that will be happy being confined, etc.) in an interesting and appropriate breed.

I really love the layout and color of this book. But some of the info is just plain crazy -- like the overly complex method the author suggests when using a broody hen. That's the whole point of USING a broody -- making it simple -- mama does the work. Their instructions are just nutty on it.

A lot of the more interesting breeds were not listed, like Araucana and Ameraucana.

Several photos were very obviously mislabeled as hens when they were very much roosters.

But overall a nice book for beginner-to-intermediate poultry hobbyists.

At-a-glance information accompanies color photos of all kinds of chickens, offering the details one needs to know right away: maintenance levels, looks, exhibition possibilities, and temperament. Read further to find out care requirements, daily management and secrets of success. While CHOOSING AND KEEPING CHICKENS isn't likely to be found in many urban collections, any holding strong in farm management at all levels, including the small home farmer, will want this; as will any individual interested in making the right chicken choices and keeping them healthy.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a great book with lots of wonderful pictures. I read it after reading Living with Chickens. The 2 books together really gave me extensive information. This book is especially helpful to choose which type of chickens you'd like to have. It will give you a picture, a total description and personality of each breed so you can choose what is right for you. I now have a list of birds (chicks)I want and am waiting for them to come in from the feed store.

I make it a rule only to review books on subjects I know something about. Although we have something approaching 100 birds, I am relatively new to keeping chickens and this review is based on those early experiences coupled with the frequent use of this book.

Author Chris Graham is the Editor of a leading UK poultry magazine with considerable knowledge of the subject. Whilst the book itself is somewhat disjointed in parts, I have found it to be both an enormous help and, so far at least, able to cover each topic I have needed to consult. In addition, the photography - covering various breeds, equipment and other items, is of the highest standard.

Arranged into; Which breeds, getting started, care, hatching & rearing, showing, different breeds, hybrids, pests and diseases, the book appears to cover all the main topics of interest to the beginner with a fair degree of thoroughness. Personally, I have consulted this book on an almost daily basis for the past several weeks and have yet to find it lacking.

My only real complaint is the order in which the different breeds are arranged. I would have preferred a straight forward alphabetical order of all types. This would allow quick access to whichever variety I was seeking at the time. Instead, they are arranged into 5 sections, albeit alphabetically within each, by; Hard feather, soft feather heavy, soft feather light and so forth.

I do also feel that the RRP of GBP £12:99 is a tad too expensive - although I was quite happy with the GBP £7:50 I paid for my own copy. All things considered, this is possibly the best buy for the complete beginner.

NM

This book is full of photos and general info.
The info on the few specific breeds that they do discuss was inconsistent. Inconsistent with other information I had read and inconsistent with itself. For example, one breed would lay 160 year and they would be stated at a moderate producer of eggs, while another breed would produce 120 per year and be labled at excellent egg producer.
I was disappointed it didn't go more in depth about personalities (so I could conclude which breeds are best suited to be housed together).
Again, the pictures were lovely, but one thing that would have been great is if they listed what breed of chicken the was...instead of general descriptions what they were doing.
All in all, a decent book, but these points were lacking.

This is my second favorite chicken book. Great basic info. on setting up for chickens, keeping them, and, most importantly, on what breeds are best for your particular needs/desires. Nice photos, and good descriptions. Unfortunately, it is a British book, so it doesn't include a few American breeds I wanted to read about, but that's a pretty minor fault... All in all, a very concise, useful book.

`Choosing and Keeping Chickens' is a great place to go for those new to poultry care or who are considering keeping chickens at home. Written in association with `Practical Poultry Magazine' this has plenty of tips and information to get you up and running and for those first few months when you have the most questions. This covers what equipment you need, how to care for chickens, hatching and rearing, show chickens, an extensive section looking at the various breeds and pest and disease control. The whole book is also lavishly illustrated with photos of various breeds and other relevant images. This is good for beginners but may not have much to offer more experienced poultry keepers, but the book is worth buying for the section on breeds alone. For each breed you get info on weight, height, colours, breed history, personality, egg laying ability and tips on day-to-day care. Fairly comprehensive I'd say. If you're new to poultry keeping or are even just considering it, then this is a good place to start. It is clear, well laid out and attractive.

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