Every chicken newbie has about a million questions, and that is good. So they come here and get about a million answers to thier questions. Often, that is not so good.
This information avalanche runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous, often leaving the newbie more confused than satisfied. What is needed is a decent reference, one that answers questions and can serve as a guide book. You do remember books, don't you?
Fortunately, these are plentiful and cheap - there is no reason not to have one. Read on.
As an experiment, I went lookng for one of my favorites, "Raising Poultry the Modern Way," by Leonard S. Mercia. I used to have a copy, which I referred to so much that the cover was mostly torn off at one point. It was a favorite, to say the least!
But it went missing, recently, and so I set out to get another. Here's how I did it. I expect that others may wish to follow suit.
1. GO to alibris.com.
Amazon.com or Abebooks.com will do as well.
2. SEARCH for book by title.
You can also just use the words, "chickens," "poultry," etc.
I found many copies of Mr. Mercia's book, several at $1.99, with the average about $10-15 for new.
3. BUY one that meets your budget.
I got one of the el cheapo's @$2 and, well... there you go. I paid more to ship it than I did to buy it.
Now, I can recommend Mercia's book, but there are many others. Related titles that popped up in this one search were:
"ABC of Poultry Raising," J H Florea ................. A+ rated
"Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide, by Rick Luttmann," Gail Luttmann .................. A rated
"Raising Poultry Successfully," by Will Graves ...................... A rated
"Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care / Feeding / Facilities," by Gail Damerow .......................... A+ rated
"Modern Livestock & Poultry Production," by James R Gillespie ........................ B rated
"Keeping Pet Chickens," Johannes Paul, William Windham, Joe Stahlkuppe ..................... A rated
Most of these could be had for $10 or less. I've all but the last one at some point in time or another and I can recommend them.
I have also NOT mentioned any of the OOP and vintage books available. Some people like them, other do not. However, the fact remains that many of those are at least as good, and sometimes better, than the more modern ones.
Another great source for such references is eBay. You can usually find the same titles there, and it is often the only place to find some of the OOP copies you may wish to own.
NOTES ABOUT EBAY: EBay is hit-or-miss on availability, especially on the "oldies." Often, the prices are higher than if you just found them used, as well. Most titles that are less than 20-30 years old are there in abundance, however, and at good prices.
The thing to do is use ebay to find one and then search the other sites for that title.
There is also a knack to using eBay to your advantage and some people don't like it. If you are not comfortable with it, don't buy there.
But it makes a great starting point. Just search "poultry" and look in books for what's available.
SO do yourself a favor - do a little research, spend a little dough and get you a good reference book.
This information avalanche runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous, often leaving the newbie more confused than satisfied. What is needed is a decent reference, one that answers questions and can serve as a guide book. You do remember books, don't you?
Fortunately, these are plentiful and cheap - there is no reason not to have one. Read on.
As an experiment, I went lookng for one of my favorites, "Raising Poultry the Modern Way," by Leonard S. Mercia. I used to have a copy, which I referred to so much that the cover was mostly torn off at one point. It was a favorite, to say the least!
But it went missing, recently, and so I set out to get another. Here's how I did it. I expect that others may wish to follow suit.
1. GO to alibris.com.
Amazon.com or Abebooks.com will do as well.
2. SEARCH for book by title.
You can also just use the words, "chickens," "poultry," etc.
I found many copies of Mr. Mercia's book, several at $1.99, with the average about $10-15 for new.
3. BUY one that meets your budget.
I got one of the el cheapo's @$2 and, well... there you go. I paid more to ship it than I did to buy it.
Now, I can recommend Mercia's book, but there are many others. Related titles that popped up in this one search were:
"ABC of Poultry Raising," J H Florea ................. A+ rated
"Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide, by Rick Luttmann," Gail Luttmann .................. A rated
"Raising Poultry Successfully," by Will Graves ...................... A rated
"Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care / Feeding / Facilities," by Gail Damerow .......................... A+ rated
"Modern Livestock & Poultry Production," by James R Gillespie ........................ B rated
"Keeping Pet Chickens," Johannes Paul, William Windham, Joe Stahlkuppe ..................... A rated
Most of these could be had for $10 or less. I've all but the last one at some point in time or another and I can recommend them.
I have also NOT mentioned any of the OOP and vintage books available. Some people like them, other do not. However, the fact remains that many of those are at least as good, and sometimes better, than the more modern ones.
Another great source for such references is eBay. You can usually find the same titles there, and it is often the only place to find some of the OOP copies you may wish to own.
NOTES ABOUT EBAY: EBay is hit-or-miss on availability, especially on the "oldies." Often, the prices are higher than if you just found them used, as well. Most titles that are less than 20-30 years old are there in abundance, however, and at good prices.
The thing to do is use ebay to find one and then search the other sites for that title.
There is also a knack to using eBay to your advantage and some people don't like it. If you are not comfortable with it, don't buy there.
But it makes a great starting point. Just search "poultry" and look in books for what's available.
SO do yourself a favor - do a little research, spend a little dough and get you a good reference book.
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