0

    Backyard Chickens Beyond the Basics: Lessons for Expanding Your Flock, Understanding Chicken Behavior, Keeping a Rooster, Adjusting for the Seasons, Staying Healthy, and More!

    by Pam Freeman


    Paperback

    $14.52
    $14.52
     $21.99 | Save 34%

    Temporarily Out of Stock Online

    Customer Reviews

    • ISBN-13: 9780760352007
    • Publisher: Voyageur Press
    • Publication date: 05/01/2017
    • Pages: 192
    • Sales rank: 209,638
    • Product dimensions: 7.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

    Pam Freeman is the editor of Backyard Poultry magazine and Countryside magazine. After she received four Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks from the Easter Bunny, her flock quickly grew and Pam launched pamsbackyardchickens.com. In the years that followed, she hand-raised chicks, nursed chicks and chickens back to health, and experienced the entire lifecycle many times over. During that time, Pam also joined the Countryside Network, where she is now an editor managing a roster of her fellow chickenkeeping writers. Pam is a resident “Ask the Expert” columnist for Backyard Poultry magazine and continues to write regular posts about chicken keeping and homesteading for Backyard Poultry and other publications.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction 8

    Chapter 1 Expanding Your Flock 11

    Considerations Before Expanding 14

    Hand-Raising Chicks 16

    Using a Broody Hen to Add to Your Flock 23

    Adding Older Chickens 28

    Chapter 2 Flock Behavior 33

    The Pecking Order 35

    Troubleshooting Relationships 43

    Working With Your Flock 46

    How to Safely Integrate Old and New 50

    Chapter 3 Life with a Rooster 53

    Identifying Hens and Roosters 55

    Flock Dynamics with a Rooster 58

    All About Spurs 62

    Chapter 4 All About Eggs 67

    Egg Formation and Egg Color 69

    Collecting and Storing Eggs 76

    Chapter 5 Chicken (and Egg) Health 83

    Daily Check-Ups 85

    Troubleshooting Egg Production 87

    Imperfect Eggs and Oddities 90

    Chicken Droppings 94

    Worming 97

    Wound Care 101

    Chapter 6 Predators 109

    What's Out There? 112

    Keeping Your Flock Safe 120

    Chapter 7 Feeding Your Chickens 127

    How Chickens Eat and Digest 130

    Feeds 131

    From the Kitchen to Your Flock 137

    Chapter 8 Chicken Keeping through the Seasons 141

    Spring 144

    Summer 151

    Fall 155

    Winter 158

    Chapter 9 Coop Truth 165

    Lessons from the Coop 168

    Inside the Ideal Coop 172

    Cleaning the Coop 179

    Preparing for Emergencies 180

    Resources 186

    Acknowledgments 189

    Index 190

    About the Author 192

    Eligible for FREE SHIPPING details

    .

    When you're ready for the next step, Backyard Chickens Beyond the Basics shows you the realities of raising productive flocks that are happy and healthy.

    A must-have for every backyard chicken keeper, Backyard Chickens Beyond the Basics goes beyond introductory lessons and explores the realities of raising a flock for eggs — and entertainment, of course! From odd eggs and molting, to feeding and preparing for the seasons, this book covers the subjects beginner books don't adequately address and re-examines common knowledge that may not actually hold true. It's a resource to turn to time and again.

    Author Pam Freeman draws on her years of experience fielding reader questions to identify and clearly explain many common - and some not-so-common - issues in chicken keeping, including: 

    • How do you add new chickens to your flock?
    • What is the pecking order and how can you change or control it?
    • Is it better to raise chicks by hand or with a broody hen?
    • What do you do when you collect eggs?

    In Backyard Chickens Beyond the Basics, readers will find not just answers, but a book full of "coop truth" that helps them continue on their journey. Because as every chicken owner knows: Chickens are individuals and real-life chicken keeping often takes you far from the beaten path.

    Read More

    Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

    Recently Viewed 

    From the Publisher
    "...has info not always found in other chicken primers" - The Cleveland Plain Dealer
    Sign In Create an Account
    Search Engine Error - Endeca File Not Found