Raising Chickens For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Learn:

• Which Breeds Fit Your Specific Needs
• To Custom Create Your Own Coop
• The Latest Urban Farming Trends
• To Raise Happy, Healthy Chickens

Your trusted resource on modern chicken-raising methods

This hands-on guide offers the most up-to-date information on chicken care, from feeding your birds for optimal health to controlling pests and predators—and everything in between. Whether you're a first-time poulterer or you-ve been raising chickens for years, you-ll find fast, authoritative advice for keeping chickens in virtually any backyard.

• What the cluck? — get the lowdown on basic chicken biology and behavior, get to know the different types of chicken breeds, and find guidance on buying chickens
• Coop, sweet coop — choose the best housing type for your flock, design and construct a coop, make nests comfy and cozy, and properly dispose of manure and old bedding
• Keep 'em happy and healthy — select a form of feed, keeps pests from infesting the coop, fend off predators, and handle common health problems
• The chicken or the egg — find out how to safely mate your chickens, incubate eggs and hatch chicks, and expertly care for those fluffy balls of cuteness
• Beyond the coop — discover how to humanely raise meat birds, whether you're doing the deed yourself or hiring out a butcher

Open the book and find:

• The best laying breeds and the best breeds for the table
• Ways to supplement feed with grit
• How to recognize and deal with disease
• What you need to know about the stages of growth — from chick to adult
• Steps for collecting, cleaning, and storing eggs
• How to package and store home-butchered poultry
• Tips for keeping healthy, stress-free chickens