Raising Chickens For Dummies

Practical how-to advice for raising chickens in virtually any backyard!
Raising chickens on a small scale is a popular–and growing–pastime. And Raising Chickens For Dummies provides an up-to-date, thorough introduction to all aspects of caring for chickens, including choosing and purchasing chickens, constructing housing, and proper feeding. Raising Chickens For Dummies provides authoritative, detailed information to make raising chickens for eggs, meat, or backyard entertainment that much easier.

Thinking about raising chickens? This comprehensive, practical guide gives you expert advice on all aspects of keeping chickens in your backyard. Whether you're interested in chickens as pets or as a source for eggs or meat, you'll find all the latest information on housing, feeding, healthcare, breeding, and much more.

Do you speak chicken? — learn about basic chicken biology, breeds, and behavior

Select your chickens — from eggs to chicks to adults, decide which to buy, how many you need, and find the healthy ones

Take care of a small flock — choose a type of housing, construct a chicken coop, feed your birds, and do housekeeping

Make more chickens — discover how to mate your chickens, incubate eggs, and hatch and nurture chicks

Reap the harvest — manage laying hens, collect and store eggs, butcher meat birds, and package and store meat

Open the book and find:

Basic chicken-keeping requirements

Misconceptions about chickens explained

Top tips for healthy chickens

Do-it-yourself housing ideas

The best feed for your birds

Advice on controlling pests and predators

Hints for optimal egg production

Information on raising meat birds

Answers to combat laying issues

Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (August 3, 2009)
Language: English