Author: Anna & Mark

I’m always keeping my eyes
open for books that will change the way we run our farm, and three
chicken-related texts seem like good candidates for 2011.



Success With Baby Chicks by Robert Plamondon is top
of my reading list since I’m hoping to start expanding our flock in
February (if our broody hen is cooperative).  I kept running
across the author’s extremely informative website when googling for
information on chicken care, so I figured his book would have to be at
least as informative.  I’ve already started dipping into the text,
and despite its self-published feel, Success
With Baby Chicks
is chock full of tips to make this year’s chick experiments more
successful than last
year’s.









Raising Poultry on Pasture edited by Jody Pagham and
published by American Pastured Poultry Producers Association looks like
it will be helpful in my search for hard data on how much food chickens
can get from pasture, which pasture plants are the best, and how much
land area you need for a flock of chickens.  I haven’t tracked
down a copy yet, but the book looks like a compilation of the
experiences of  dozens of pastured poultry enthusiasts, and I love
first-hand data.

Backyard Poultry Naturally by Alanna Moore looks like a
more mainstream book, so even those of you who aren’t into hard-core
science might be interested.  Unfortunately, that puts it near the
bottom of my reading list.



What chicken-related
books are at the top of your reading list this year?

My mother gives me gifts of
bagged autumn leaves, which she captures from the curb in her city on
trash day.  This winter, I’ve set most of them aside for adding,
one at a time, to the chicken coop to keep the deep bedding
fresh and manure-free on the surface.  When I headed out last week
to put in a new bag, our flock was ready to help.



All I have to do is
empty the leaves into a big pile in the middle of the coop and the
chickens go into a scratching frenzy.  I assume there are a few
seeds and bugs hidden deep in
the leaf pile, or at least the birds think there’s something in
there.  Soon, the leaves are nicely scattered throughout the whole
coop.  Good job, girls and boy!  I wish all of my farm chores
were that easy.