Chickens (7)

This book has an interesting section on the history of chickens and breeding and while it is by no means defintive it notes many breed characteristics and temperaments. Google will give you every factoid about any particular breed in minutae but this book is useful if you just want to flick through the photos, glean the basics and whittle down your list by choosing which ones will look nicest in your garden.

A friend showed me a copy of this book recently and I am shocked at the number of ill and infested birds photographed in it. I haven't had the chance to read it cover to cover but the birds in the photos are enough to put you off - if the publisher could not manage to find healthy birds to photograph then you wonder if they have bothered to write anything that is helpful or correct either.Many of the birds photographed have very bad cases of Scaly Leg Mite infestation, clearly untreated. Others have obviously been involved in fights and have damaged combs/wattles etc with no sign of veterinary attention. Still others are in the typical hunched position with their tail down that indicates a sick chicken that needs to see a vet urgently - yet none of the captions mention that the bird in the picture is ill!Of further annoyance is that many of the birds shown are cross-bred or hybrids and yet are captioned as "pedigree".This book is obviously aimed at potential or new chicken keepers but seems to offer the worst possible introduction - if it shows birds as ill-treated as it does what are the new keepers who read it going to do when they get their birds.... go and buy the Mini Encyclopedia of Chicken Breeds and Care by Frances Bassom instead.

This book touches on a little of just about everything one wants or needs to know about chickens. The writing is well charted and the photographs are absolutely brilliant and beautiful. I was previously a keeper of a few chickens but this book opened my eyes to their value and personalities even more. I never realized how adorable and fun chickens were til this book caused me to venture into interacting with different chickens more and more. I even ordered one of a different breed, a Speckled Sussex because of the information and photographs in this book. That Speckled Sussex is now my favorite. This is wonderful and one of my favorite chicken books! Love it!

Great!

What a pretty book! One day, I decided that I needed more information on chickens.....?.... This caught my eye. It is informative and easy to read, but most importantly, the pictures are gorgeous. The chickens are fantastic!