by J. Holmes Martin and Stanley J. Marsden. Sixth Edition
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099052. 1008 pages.

Turkey Management has been the go-to book on turkeys since 1939. The only trouble is, it has been out of print for decades! Thoughtful farmers, breeders, and hobbyists have had to seek out used copies of this book, often seeking in vain, especially for copies of the latest and most complete Sixth Edition.

Now you can own a new copy of the Sixth Edition of Turkey Management, with over a thousand pages of turkey lore and 120 illustrations. Incubating, brooding, rearing, feeding, finishing, showing, breeding, free range: it's all here.

First published in 1955, this Sixth Edition of Turkey Management was published after all of the revolutions in poultry science had taken place, so it's modern, but before small turkey flocks and free range had vanished and their techniques forgotten.

Because it was written before the shift to factory farming, Turkey Management focuses on things you can do yourself: homemade shelters and feeders, feed rations that rely on regional crops, and the use of natural ingredients for vitamins, minerals, and protein (rather than synthetic ingredients or vitamin/mineral premixes). This gives you a better understanding of how all pieces fit together, even if you never pick up a hammer or mix your own feed.

Turkey Management is volume 7 of the Norton Creek Classics series.

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by Milo Hastings, Edited by Robert Plamondon
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 0972177019. 250 pages.
Available in paperback and Kindle formats.

THE DOLLAR HEN is America's classic handbook on free-range egg production. First published in 1909, it walks the reader through valuable concepts available in no other source. With an emphasis on simplicity, practicality, and synergy between hens, crops, soil, and farmer, the book is a timeless guide to poultry farming as it ought to be practiced.

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by Leslie E. Card
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099028. 414 pages.

A must-have book for the serious poultrykeeper.

Practical, scientifically based books for raising moderate numbers of chickens are as rare as hen's teeth. Most new books are aimed at either factory farmers or backyarders, with little for the serious small-scale farmer or fancier. Fortunately, we can find what we need by turning back the clock. This book, the 9th edition of Poultry Production, is from 1961: old enough that smaller chicken flocks were still common, but new enough that all the basic scientific principles had been discovered. For example, earlier books did not discuss nutrients like methionine and vitamin B-12, since they hadn't been isolated yet.

Leslie Card's application of carefully tested methods allows you to move forward with your own flock.

Poultry Production contains many graphs, tables, and other aids to understanding (for example, a graph showing how a concrete floor affects the air temperature at floor level, warming it by more than 5 °F in cold weather and cooling it by more than 15 °F in hot weather). This kind of detail means there's a place for Poultry Production on every chicken owner's shelf.

Poultry Production is both a practical reference book and a college textbook, giving a solid foundation in both practice and theory. It has been used as a textbook by at least 177 American and 8 foreign colleges and universities.

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by James Dryden
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099036. 416 pages.

Where other chicken breeders failed, Professor James Dryden in Oregon succeeded when "Lady MacDuff" laid 303 eggs in 365 days in 1912-1913. How did he do it? Through the methods described in this book, which can be divided into two parts: his successful breeding techniques and his simple yet effective management techniques.

Poultry Breeding and Management, first published a century ago, was an immediate hit with farmers and breeders alike, and remained in print for nearly thirty years. It was the best, most popular, and most influential poultry book of its time, and remains well worth reading today.

James Dryden (1863-1935) was Professor of Poultry Science at Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) and was the first to demonstrate that egg production can be increased through selective breeding. He is the only poultryman ever inducted into National Agricultural Hall of Fame.

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by F. B. Hutt
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 0972177035. 590 pages.

Genetics of the Fowl is still the most useful work on poultry genetics. Just the last chapter, "Genetics in Practice," provides the best introduction to successful poultry breeding ever written, covering the difference between breeding for dominant vs. recessive characteristics, individual selection vs. progeny testing, inbreeding vs. crossing, and much more.

F. B. Hutt was sympathetic to the needs of practical farmers, show breeders, and researchers, so this book is far more than a compendium of genes, and yet this aspect is covered in loving detail. Chapters include the genetics of plumage, egg production, body type, disease resistance, and much more, with many illustrations and examples of how the genes work in practice.

Other works have come and gone since Genetics of the Fowl's first publication in 1949 (most notably R. D. Crawford's 1990 Poultry Breeding and Genetics, now out of print, for which Hutt himself wrote the preface at the age of 91), but Genetics of the Fowl is still the first book everyone should read on poultry genetics. New information has come to light since its publication, but it builds upon the solid foundation laid down by Hutt.

This Norton Creek Press book is an exact reproduction of the original edition.

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by F. B. Hutt
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099079. 94 pages.
Available in paperback and Kindle formats.

Genetics in Practice was the final chapter of F. B. Hutt’s monumental Genetics of the Fowl, covering the practical aspects of successful breeding projects as opposed to genetic theory and a detailed discussion of all known chicken genes at the time.

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by Prince T. Woods, M.D.
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 097217706X. 190 pages.

Fresh Air or Bust! To stay healthy, your chickens need plenty of ventilation—probably more than they’re getting today.

This was discovered over 100 years ago, but has been largely forgotten. Today’s small-flock housing tends to be dank, dark, and smelly. Chickens, like miners’ canaries, are easily harmed by poor air quality. Wet litter breeds disease. Darkness forces chickens, like parrots, to be artificially inactive. “Dank, dark, and smelly” is a deadly combination! Closed chicken houses are so harmful that knocking out a wall can cause an immediate improvement, even in winter. Chickens, after all, have a thick coat of feathers to keep them warm, but are vulnerable to poor air quality and pathogens in the litter; and their unwillingness to eat in the dark means they can starve in the midst of plenty.

Fresh-Air Poultry Houses was written by Dr. Prince T. Woods, a noted poultry health expert. Dr. Woods describes not only his own poultry houses, but those of many of his clients, giving the book a breadth of experience that makes it a unique resource.

This 1924 book is old-fashioned and a little eccentric, but in a good way.

Fresh-Air Poultry Houses is a good example of the Norton Creek Press motto: “Most of the best books are out of print and forgotten, but we can fix that!”

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by G. F. Heuser
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 0972177027. 632 pages.

FEEDING POULTRY is required reading for anyone interested in giving their flocks a better diet. First published in 1955, this book is modern enough that no important point is overlooked, yet old enough that free range, green feed, home-grown grains, and small flocks are given due attention. Written by pioneering poultry scientist G. F. Heuser of Cornell University, the book is aimed at practical poultrymen in addition to poultry scientists, and this makes it more accessible than more recent works. This book is part of the Norton Creek Classics series; books from our past with an important role to play in our future.

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by Robert Plamondon
Norton Creek Press, ISBN 0972177000. 155 pages.
Available in paperback and Kindle formats.

Baby chicks—can anything be more adorable? So cute, so soft, so helpless! Give your baby chicks a great start by reading the only book devoted to them, Success With Baby Chicks.

Robert Plamondon had to read over a hundred poultry books to discover the sure-fire techniques in Success With Baby Chicks, and he tested them on his farm to find the ones that will work best for you. These techniques were used on millions of family farms in the golden age before factory farming, and were then forgotten—until now! Learn how to choose a good hatchery and a good breed, what kind of heat source to use, how to prepare the brooder area for your baby chicks, what to feed them, and how to avoid common mistakes. All of this is explained so clearly and completely in one slim volume that it has received praise from children, hobbyists, farmers, and poultry scientists alike.

Whether you brood five chicks or five thousand, this is the book for you, because its practical methods work with flocks of any size. And it will save you money. Learn how to build an insulated brooder in two hours for $20, keeping your chicks warmer and more comfortable than with overhead heat lamps, and saving two-thirds of the electricity into the bargain!

Robert Plamondon is a writer/farmer/engineer who has been awarded 17 U.S. patents and raises free-range chickens on his farm in Oregon.

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