We’ve written, edited, and republished our favorite chicken books. Our theme? Practical knowledge and techniques used by old-time farmers.
Our first foray into the chicken-book field was Success With Baby Chicks. Robert Plamondon wrote this book after realizing that people like you are having heartbreaking failures with baby chicks; problems we learned how to deal with by trial and error and extensive reading. Like us, you can have success every time! The book has received warm praise from farmers who tell us that it has made a big difference with their chick rearing and many favorable reviews on Amazon.com.
Our most popular poultry book is Fresh-Air Poultry Houses by Dr. Prince T. Woods. Keep your chickens healthy year-round! This book is the bible of the open-front poultry movement, an idea so old it’s new again. Most chicken coops are inadequately ventilated, making them dark, dank and smelly. Chickens, like miners’ canaries, are tough in most ways, but have weak lungs. They can take a lot of cold, but get sick if the air quality is poor! This 1924 book is a great classic, well worth reading.
The Dollar Hen had more influence on us than any other chicken book. It set us on the path to successful and profitable free-range egg farming. Written 100 years ago by Milo Hastings, a pioneering poultry scientist, science-fiction author, and health-food advocate, it covers how the poultry industry of the day actually worked, and what successful farmers actually did, rather than the trendier money-losing techniques advocated by the poultry press of the day. While quite old, it has many practical concepts and techniques that are still useful today.
Genetics of the Fowl taught us a great deal about poultry breeding—enough that we are often mistaken for experts! At the very least, it gave us a healthy respect for the difficulties of poultry breeding, while making us far better at choosing appropriate commercial lines. We’re pretty sure that universities still assign this book.
The book is mostly about genetics, of course, but the lengthy final chapter is overflowing with practical information, to the point where we published it as a slim, stand-alone volume: Genetics in Practice!
Feeding Poultry is the best book we’ve found on practical poultry nutrition—accessible enough to be read by the practical farmer, but detailed enough to be used by professionals at universities and major poultry companies.
It’s interestingly old, old enough to consider the nutritional value of free range, while still being new enough that its understanding of nutrition is essentially modern.
Poultry Breeding and Management by James Dryden. Dryden was the first person to successfully breed chickens for increased egg production. Many before him tried and failed. He did this just down the road from us, at the Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) in Corvallis. But even more important than his breakthroughs in breeding, his practical approach to managing flocks of chicken endeared him to generations of American farmers. Though quite old (1916), it has insights I’ve never seen anywhere else.
Poultry Production
, 9th Edition by Leslie E. Card. This is an extremely valuable all-around guide to keeping chickens. It was aimed at American farmers of the time (the 1950s), with flocks ranging from no more than a dozen chickens up to flocks of thousands. It’s new enough that practically all the techniques are still relevant, while still being old enough that it isn’t focused on factory farming. It was used as a college textbook for generations of American agricultural students.
Turkey Management, 6th Edition by Marsden & Martin. This is the guide to raising turkeys. It’s by far our largest book (1,008 pages), but then, turkeys are large birds and raising them is a large subject! As usual, this edition is old enough (1955) that the traditional methods of raising turkeys are not neglected, but new enough that it’s still relevant and usable.
It is impossible to praise these books too highly.
Ordering
See the individual book pages or our How to Order page.