Poultry Book Review

[AllenWMiller]

While slightly off topic to poultry book reviews I just wanted to recommend all of Alf Wight's books aka James Herriot of All Creatures Great and Small fame. If you love your chicken stories then Alf's way of telling his stories will warm your heart to be certain.

 

[thechickonthehill]

Just today got a new book by Jessi Bloom titled Free-Range Chicken Gardens. When I do finally get finished with it I will try to post a review. I have only scanned quickly through it but it looks promising. Has LOTS of nice color photos!

 

[Robert Blosl]

http://www.archive.org/details/principlespracti00robirich

This is one of my favorite authors in Poultry John Robinson Mr. Miller do you have any of his books in your library? bob

 

[AllenWMiller]

Thanks Bob and please review that book for everyone it is one those books I like to refer to as a "cornerstone" poultry book; as it in my opinion is a must have book. And yes I have all of John Henry's books he was a colleague of my father and grandfather's and a mentor to me. Below are some of his other works (I will review them soon) you might be interested in: (And if you have these works you are fortunate as copies are scare today; since most are either lost from lack of interest or in the hands of old men like me.)

"Poultry Craft: A Textbook for Poultry Keepers"

"Fundamentals in poultry breeding;: A complete guide to the successful breeding of American standard fowls, turkeys, ducks and geese for table poultry, for egg production and for exhibition" This is a nice little pamphlet to have.

"How to Feed Poultry for Any Purpose With Profit""

"Our Domestic Birds; Elementary Lessons In Aviculture"

"Common-Sense Poultry Doctor"

"Broilers and Roasters: The Specialties of the Market Poultry"

"Winter Eggs: How to Get Good Profit from Hens"

And his cornerstone fancier work:

"Standard Poultry For Exhibition; A Complete Manual Of The Methods Of Expert Exhibitors In Growing, Selecting, Conditioning, Training And Showing Poultry-Fully Describing Fitting Processes And Exposing Faking Practices-Briefly Explaining Judging For The Amateur And Furnishing The Student Of Judging An Exhaustive Analysis Of The History, Philosophy And Merits Of Comparison And Scorecard Systems"

"Fundamentals In Poultry Breeding: A Complete Guide To The Successful Breeding Of American Standard Fowls, Turkeys, Ducks And Geese For Table Poultry"

"First Lessons in Poultry Keeping" (This was a three volume, three year course)

"Our Domestic Birds; Elementary Lessons in Aviculture"

 

[AllenWMiller]

Book Review Format Template:


Title:

Author:

Publisher/Date:

ISBN:

Price/Link:
(provide the price you paid, where you bought it, if it was a gift and how much you found it for on sites like Amazon.)

Page Count:

Rating:

(1 poor...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 excellent)

Special Attributes:

MH: a must have reference VT: very technical WE: well written easy to understand AB: advanced breeding BR: good beginner reference HC: Hardcover SC: Soft Cover
CPH: contains color photos WPH: contains black and white photos WCP: contains colored plates WBP: contains black and white plates IL: contains illustrations DB: contains diagrams/blueprints

Category:

(1. Beginner/Laymen 2. Hobbyist/Small Holder 3. Fancier/Show 4. Breeder/Genetics 5. Hatchery 6. Production Laying Flock 7. Production Meat Flock)

Review:

 

[AllenWMiller]

Title: Profitable Poultry Management

Author: Clarence E. Lee, Olin A. Ronworth, Robert E. Miller

Publisher/Date: The Beacon Milling Co., Cayuga, N.Y., Eastport, L.I.,N.Y., York, PA, Laurel, DE 1928 til about 1960

ISBN: N/A

Price/Link: N/A
(provide the price you paid, where you bought it, if it was a gift and how much you found it for on sites like Amazon.)

Page Count: 280

Rating: 10

(1 poor...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 excellent)

Special Attributes: MH, VT, WE, BR, SC, WPH, IL, DB

MH: a must have reference VT: very technical WE: well written easy to understand AB: advanced breeding BR: good beginner reference HC: Hardcover SC: Soft Cover
CPH: contains color photos WPH: contains black and white photos WCP: contains colored plates
IL: contains illustrations DB: contains diagrams/blueprints

Category: 7,6,5,4,2,1

(1. Beginner/Laymen 2. Hobbyist/Small Holder 3. Fancier/Show 4. Breeder/Genetics 5. Hatchery 6. Production Laying Flock 7. Production Meat Flock)

Review: Beacon Milling was probably the largest animal feed mill in the nation; larger in fact than Ralston Purina. What was terrific about Beacon was their extensive research and development stations for livestock and poultry. Sadly they were bought out by Cargill in 1986 and their research and development division was shut down.

This publication, if you can find it (any year, they are all good), is an invaluable resource for poultry sanitation, disease identification and management, and a wealth of information about the poultry industry and poultry husbandry.

These booklets were published during the hay-day of poultry and were a testament to the dedication of feed manufacturers like Beacon. Yes Purina also published a yearly booklet too but quite honestly it couldn't compare to Beacon's booklet. This is truly a "need to have" resource if you are serious about poultry.

On re reading the 22nd Edition for the first time in years I came across an almost forgotten treatment for lice and red mite in the coop - "sulfur flour". Still available today and all natural and safe, this treatment of sulfur to the floors and nest boxes as well as making a sulfur wash to paint the roosts and walls lasts for months and is quite effective and cheap.

Keep an eye out for this publication in flea markets, poultry auctions, etc as it is a glimpse into the past but with extremely valuable information for the present and future.

 

[AllenWMiller]

Title: The Philosophy of Judging Fowls

Author: I.K. Felch and H.S. Babcock Illustrated by J. Henry Lee

Publisher/Date: W.D. Page, 1889

ISBN: N/A

Price/Link: N/A
(provide the price you paid, where you bought it, if it was a gift and how much you found it for on sites like Amazon.)

Page Count: 217

Rating: 10

(1 poor...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 excellent)

Special Attributes: MH, VT, WE, HC, WBP, IL

MH: a must have reference VT: very technical WE: well written easy to understand AB: advanced breeding BR: good beginner reference HC: Hardcover SC: Soft Cover
CPH: contains color photos WPH: contains black and white photos WCP: contains colored plates WBP: contains black and white plates
IL: contains illustrations DB: contains diagrams/blueprints

Category: 3

(1. Beginner/Laymen 2. Hobbyist/Small Holder 3. Fancier/Show 4. Breeder/Genetics 5. Hatchery 6. Production Laying Flock 7. Production Meat Flock)

Review: If you are interested in showing poultry then this is a must have seminal work on judging poultry and the philosophy and practice behind judging. Felch and Babcock are probably the best known authors of the 19th century concerning poultry judging but Felch and Babcock were equally known as the best of the best breeders of their time as well. Felch never undertook writing a book, a paper or a speech without having thorough and first hand knowledge of his topic.

Years of showing his Chamberlain/Felch Light Brahmas starting with "Imperial 300" a cock purchased from Mr. Chamberlain for the sum of $2.00 and then mated to the hen "Lady Childs" produced his famous line of Light Brahmas then known as the Felch Strain. It is from this line of Light Brahmas that Isaak Felch would learn the art of showing and judging and forever be changed by poultry. He would go on to write his most famous work "Poultry Culture: How to Raise, Manage, Mate and Judge Thoroughbred Fowls" along with various books, articles and pamphlets on judging, breeding and husbandry.

Though this book is geared to the advanced breeder and judge even the layperson can read it with relative ease and understand for a better comprehension of poultry fancying.

 

[AllenWMiller]

Title: The Poulterer's Companion a Practical Treatise on the Breeding, Rearing and General Management

Author: C.N. Bement

Publisher/Date: Harper and Brothers, N.Y. 1856

ISBN: N/A

Price/Link: N/A
(provide the price you paid, where you bought it, if it was a gift and how much you found it for on sites like Amazon.)

Page Count: 304

Rating: I rate this book a 10 for the 19th Century but only a 5 in the 21st Century

(1 poor...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 excellent)

Special Attributes: WE, BR,HC,WBP, IL,DB

MH: a must have reference VT: very technical WE: well written easy to understand AB: advanced breeding BR: good beginner reference HC: Hardcover SC: Soft Cover CPH: contains color photos WPH: contains black and white photos WCP: contains colored plates WBP: contains black and white plates IL: contains illustrations DB: contains diagrams/blueprints

Category: 1,2

(1. Beginner/Laymen 2. Hobbyist/Small Holder 3. Fancier/Show 4. Breeder/Genetics 5. Hatchery 6. Production Laying Flock 7. Production Meat Flock)

Review: If you are interested in poultry history and how poultry was reared in the 19th century then this is an excellent resource. However, much of what is in this book was far outdated by the 1920's. The section on diseases is of little value today as there was little understanding of most poultry ailments and diseases at the time of writing. Breeding and genetics was not a concept of the time and little was understood about breeding techniques and genetics generally.

What I most admire about this book and where I think it still holds great value is on coop and appliance design. The Victorians loved their fowl a great deal and built elaborate housing for their flocks. Likewise, since the book was geared to frugality it has many poultry appliance designs that are still timely today for the small holder or hobbyist that doesn't want to spend a lot money to get into poultry.

I particularly enjoy the small litho of Queen Victoria's poultry houses and several of the houses in Long Island and Boston. The days of these grand temples to poultry are certainly over.

Of particular interest are the plans for a small 10 foot diameter octagon poultry coop. This, in reality, is a brilliant design for the shear conservation and economy of lumber to build.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Thank you all for the reviews so far! I have saved a number of the PDFs to read, and the internet archive is a great source. Less familiar with the older texts, I chose to review a more recent publication:

Title: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers

Author: (Virginia's own) Harvey Ussery

Publisher/Date: 2011 from Chelsea Green Publishing

ISBN:

• ISBN-10: 1603582908
• ISBN-13: 978-1603582902

Price/Link: $26.37 on Amazon

Page Count: 416 pages

Rating: 10 (for my purposes)
(1 poor...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 excellent)

Special Attributes: WE, BR, SC, CPH, DB
WE: well written easy to understand
BR: good beginner reference
SC: Soft Cover
CPH: contains color photos
DB: contains diagrams/blueprints

Category: 1, 2
(1. Beginner/Laymen 2. Hobbyist/Small Holder 3. Fancier/Show 4. Breeder/Genetics 5. Hatchery 6. Production Laying Flock 7. Production Meat Flock)

Review: This is a practical guide for those raising backyard chickens for their own meat and eggs. Ussery begins by covering the basics found in most chicken books and continues to discuss detailed management plans integrating gardening, composting, breeding, and feeding with the aim of providing for the household. There are detailed directions for building A-frame mobile coops, trap nesting boxes, and dusting boxes. He discusses feed requirements, growing feed and supplements such as earthworms and soldier flies, working with broody hens, using electric fencing, breeding for improvement, and winter management strategies. There are detailed directions - with pictures - on ways to slaughter and butcher poultry as well as several recipes for eggs and meat. Ussery also addresses integrating and using other types of fowl.

For an overview, here is the table of contents:

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

What a wonderful thread Mr. Miller!! Very educational as well as enjoyable.