I am a newbie and I was wondering...What books are must haves for a chicken newbie? I want to add 3-4 books preferably one with health issues, another with info on general raising of chicks and chickens, and one or two about breeds and temperament. I have lots to choose from and it is a bit overwhelming. Thanks
Keep Chickens! by Barbara Kilarski Living With Chickens by Jay Rossier I like these two books for beginners, they break down the necessary info into very manageable chapters. Storey's Guide to Chickens is very comprehensive & thorough, but can be a bit overwhelming to beginners with a small backyard flock. At least it was for me.
I love Storey's Guide to Chickens. Most of the other books I've seen skip so much information that you need. It's like they're only half written.
What about Extraordinary chickens or EXTRA extraordinary chickens? I have heard some good reviews on those books. I don't want to spend a lot of money on useless trifle.
I also am new and I bought three chicken books to prepare for my little chicks' coming. Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens definately overwhelmed me at first but now that I have read two other books and numerous websites and have my chicks I find it a completely valuable reference and would recommend it as a resource if not an easy read. Hobby Farms Chickens by Sue Weaver was full of information and has some great pictures which really help. It is not too overwhelming and served as a great starting point for me. I highly recommend it for a beginner who wants good easy to access info. Keep Chickens by Barbara Kilarski was a charming read and very entertaining but did not have much information. She mostly told stories of her chickens which did prepare me for a few things (like the way some chicks look dead while they're sleeping) but if you don't want happy stories then I would go for a different book. For me personally, the combination of these three plus BYC's site has been all I needed. Hope that helped!
