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Raising chickens is considered a great hobby around the world. While some people opt for it as a hobby. There are numerous other benefits attached to it. You can also raise chickens to produce your own supply of good quality chicken and eggs. Poultry raising is another great way towards a profitable business.
Across the world, there are hundreds of poultry farms raising chickens to cater to the supply of poultry for themselves and to sell for profit. As easy as it may sound, it is not that easy task. To raise chicken, you need to follow certain standard procedures. These SOPs will ensure that you are raising the chicken right away. This will also ensure the optimal health of these birds, along with the quality of chicken and eggs that are being produced.
What are the Best Raising Chickens Books to read?
To raise the chicken right way, there are numerous things involved. From creating the right atmosphere for them to keeping them healthy, safe and maintaining the right diet for them. You need ample knowledge on how to handle these things. Also, if you are planning on running a poultry business and raise chicken for commercial purposes. There are numerous other factors involved as well.
For commercial purposes, you need to have information and access to the equipment that might need to be used for the incubation process. There are also things like hatching, nurturing the chicken, collecting eggs and storing them and safe butchering practices. There are numerous books out there that can help you with information on raising chicken the right way. If you own a poultry business or want to start one, you must be reading these books to get a better understanding of the topic.
Best Books on Raising Chickens: Our Top 20 Picks
Here are some of the best raising chickens books that you can consider to expand your knowledge on the subject:
1. The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Backyard Chickens: Simple steps for Health, Happy hens
Raising chickens in your backyard is a widely popular hobby among farmers. These chickens help with pest control and eat mostly insects. Also, they are good for the soil, as they make the fertilization process a tad bit smoother.
However, raising chickens in your backyard is totally different than raising them at a poultry farm for commercial purposes. While those farms are focused on the quantity of meat production and eggs. Backyard chickens are all about healthier chickens that are happy and safe. Written by Kathy Shea Mormino, this book provides you with an in-depth insight on how you can raise some really happy chicken in your backyard and keep them safe and healthy.
- Authors: Kathy Shea Mormino (Author)
- Publisher: Voyageur Press; Illustrated Edition (October 1, 2017)
- Pages: 180 pages
2. Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens…Naturally
The recent trends for America show that people are getting awareness and they are concerned about what they put in their stomachs. That makes a great tradition of raising their own chickens for meat and eggs come back.
Fresh Eggs Daily is the right guide for all those who are concerned about the quality of poultry products they are getting. This book will ensure that you are well-aware of all the facts and information that you might need to raise your own flock of chickens in the backyard. Written by Lisa Steele, this informative guide with a highly comprehensive narrative contains information on how you can choose the right breed for you, and take care of your birds in your backyard to get healthier meat and eggs daily.
- Authors: Lisa Steele (Author)
- Publisher: St. Lynn’s Press; General Edition (October 15, 2013)
- Pages: 160 pages
3. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition
Storey’s guide is a well-known book to read for all the beginners and those who are interested in raising chickens. The guide provides with most-up to date information, assistance in the light of researches and findings to better raise the chickens.
Written by Gail Damerow, this book covers a wide range of purposes that you might have for raising chickens. If you are looking to raise chickens for selling for meat, and eggs or winning the next bird competition. This book has all the information required to help you with your goal and manage your flock easily. The book has elaborative information on breeds, creating the coop, managing the feed and understanding your birds.
- Authors: Gail Damerow (Author)
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 3rd Edition (January 20, 2010)
- Pages: 448 pages
4. The small-scale poultry flock: An All-Natural approach to raising chickens and other fowl for home and market growers
Technology is overtaking in every part of life. Poultry and farming of such birds have had their own share of advancement that makes more profit in terms of chicken and egg production. However, experts believe that natural approach towards raising chicken still stays the best.
Written originally by Harvey Ussery and a brilliant Foreword by Joel Salatin, this book does not only cover chickens but other fowl as well. In this book, you can get your hands on the natural approach to raise chickens and other fowl. The natural approach ensures quality over quantity, and you can maintain a small-scale poultry flock with the best quality and nutritional values for chicken and eggs being produced. The book is great for those who want to raise chickens or other fowl for themselves or commercial purposes.
- Authors: Harvey Ussery (Author), Joel Salatin (Foreword)
- Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing; Illustrated Edition (October 7, 2011)
- Pages: 416 pages
5. Raising Chickens for Dummies
For dummies is a widely popular series for their elaborative guides and information on anything. These books present a highly understandable and easy to read narrative for the beginners. These books feature a step by step guide from beginning to end for all to gain the right perspective on the subject.
Written by Kimberly Willis and Robert T. Ludlow, this highly informative and easy to understand guide contains all the information that a beginner might need to start raising chickens. Let it be as a hobby, for your personal supply of chicken and eggs or commercial purposes. This book contains an easy to follow narrative with all the information required on breeding, nurturing, feeding and raising the chickens.
- Authors: Kimberley Willis (Author), Robert T. Ludlow (Author)
- Publisher: For Dummies; 2nd Edition (March 2, 2015)
- Pages: 432 pages
6. The Chicken Health Handbook, 2nd Edition: A complete guide to maximizing flock health and dealing with diseases
Chickens are a bit more vulnerable to diseases. They are exposed to some viral diseases that spread across the flock fast. Hence, you should ensure that each chicken in your flock is at its optimal health.
Written by poultry expert Gail Damerow, this book covers a wide range of diseases that are common amongst chickens and how you can take preventive measures to avoid these. Not only that, this book has all the information on curing such diseases in chickens in any unfortunate cases. If you are facing a disease in your flock, or simply want to be prepared if any such thing happens. You should be definitely reading this book.
- Authors: Gail Damerow (Author)
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; Second Edition, New edition (December 29, 2015)
- Pages: 496 pages
7. A Kid’s guide to keeping chickens: Best Breeds, Creating a Home, Care and Handling, Outdoor Fun, Crafts and treats
Raising chickens may seem like an adult hobby and job. However, it is not entirely true. It makes an equally fun and entertaining practice for kids to raise chickens and have their time with these birds. Kids love pets, and chickens are a great way to get kids busy with something productive.
Raising chickens will not only help your kids to get acquainted with these birds at an early age but also enable them with a sense of responsibility. Written by Melissa Caughey, this book contains an easy to understand and fun narrative for the kids to understand how to raise their own chickens. The book has all the information from choosing the best breed to be raised by kids to creating a home for these birds and taking care of them. The book is the right guide for kids to have a sense of responsibility and a positive activity to keep them occupied.
- Authors: Melissa Caughey (Author)
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; Illustrated Edition (March 10, 2015)
- Pages: 144 pages
8. Chick’s Day: An absolute beginner’s guide to raising chickens from Hatching to Laying
While you can always buy some grown chickens to raise them. The idea is not appreciated by some and they prefer hatching their eggs to raise chickens into hens and then laying them.
This approach is being widely followed across the world by chicken farmers. Seeing those small chickens grow into hens and then laying them gives you a sense of accomplishment that is hard to achieve otherwise. Also, the journey of a chicken to hen makes you understand them better so you are able to effectively take care of your chickens. This book presents you with a graphical illustration of the approach. Written by Jenna Woginrich and photographed by Mars vilaubi, you can get great insight on each stage from hatching to laying chickens with the help of some highly useful and informative photos included in this book.
- Authors: Jenna Woginrich (Author), Mars Vilaubi (Photographer)
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; Illustrated Edition (January 11, 2011)
- Pages: 128 pages
9. 101 Chicken Keeping Hacks from Fresh Eggs Daily: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for you and your hens
Fresh Eggs Daily is a highly popular series by Lisa Steele. The series presents the right information required by anyone raising the chickens in a highly elaborative and fun manner. This book is quite the same and it covers a great deal of information in terms of useful hacks.
The book is all about keeping your flock happy, healthy and safe. Also, there are some great tips and tricks included in how you can keep your coop clean and beautiful. Lisa is considered an expert in raising chickens and her years of experience and studies are summarized in this book in 101 hacks that will enable you to look at your flock like never before.
- Authors: Lisa Steele (Author)
- Publisher: Voyageur Press; Illustrated Edition (October 9, 2018)
- Pages: 176 pages
10. The Beginner’s guide to raising chickens: How to Raise a happy backyard flock
There are numerous books being written on the topic that may teach you how you can increase the chicken and egg production. These books are a great help for increasing the profitability of any poultry farm. However, this book is quite the opposite. This book doesn’t focus on raising chickens for selling them. But, on how you can keep them safe, happy and healthy.
Written by Anne Kuo, an expert chicken breeder, this book is all about choosing the right breed of chicken that suits you, creating their layer, choosing the right feed for your birds, and keep them healthy and happy throughout the year. The book contains elaborative information and guidance for all the beginners to start and maintain a happy flock as a hobby or their own usage rather than focusing on profitability and chicken production.
- Authors: Anne Kuo (Author)
- Publisher: Rockridge Press; Illustrated Edition (June 4, 2019)
- Pages: 192 pages
11. Storey’s guide to raising chickens, 4th Edition: Breed Selection, Facilities, Feeding, Health Care, Managing Layers & Meat Birds
If you look at it afar, breeding and raising chickens may seem like an easy job. However, it is totally the opposite and you need to be on your toes with the selection of breed according to your requirements and the facilities and environment that will be best for them.
This highly elaborative and extensive guide is written by Gail Damerow. This book points you in the right direction if you are looking to run a large-scale poultry farm. From selecting the right breed for you to arranging the appropriate facilities for them, feeding them right, taking care of their health, and the right process to meat the birds have been discussed in this book. This is a must-read for all those who are feeling overwhelmed with a decision or want to learn the right approach towards raising chickens.
- Authors: Gail Damerow (Author)
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 4th Edition (December 26, 2017)
- Pages: 424 pages
12. Backyard Chickens: A practical handbook to Raising Chickens
With the growing demand for chicken, eggs and poultry products in the markets. Farmers have started to use some methods that focus on quantity rather than the quality of these products. If you look at it this way, the chicken or eggs you are getting from a commercial farmer may not be as nutritional as you think they are.
This is creating a huge trend of raising your own chickens in the backyard and have the best quality of chicken and eggs. However, maintaining these birds is not an easy task and you need certain expertise and knowledge on the topic at hand. Written by Claire Woods, this handbook provides you with a concise and to the point approach towards raising chickens in your backyard. The book has practical advice and tips that will ensure healthier and safer chickens.
- Authors: Claire Woods (Author)
- Publisher: Independently published (August 31, 2018)
- Pages: 123 pages
13. How to Raise Backyard chickens: The complete guide to caring for chicks to laying hens
Raising backyard chicken is not as easy as it looks. There are certain things you need to take care of, in order to maintain optimal health for your flock and get the best quality of eggs and meat.
This is a highly elaborative book written by Isaac Miller. It contains all the information you might require from caring for chickens, raising them as hens, breeding them, feeding them, maintaining their health and laying those hens. The book has some highly useful tips that you can use to ensure that your flock is at its best health and safety.
- Authors: Isaac Miller (Author)
- Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 30, 2015)
- Pages: 50 pages
14. The Homesteader’s Natural Chicken Keeping Handbook: Raising a Healthy Flock from Start to Finish
If you are raising chickens at home. You should be most concerned about their health, and the quality of the feed you provide to them. Not only that, there are certain other factors that help with the optimal health of these birds. Along with the feed, you must care about having a safe and healthy coop for them, ample space for them to move around and cleanliness around their layer.
This book written by Amy K. Fewell and Foreword by Joel Salatin is the right guide for you if you are looking to raise chickens at your home and want to learn about the best and healthiest practices. The book has elaborative information on understanding the chickens, preventing any diseases or ailments, hatching, and maintaining the feed for your chicken. The book also has some great recipes you can try with your home-bred chicken and eggs.
- Authors: Amy K. Fewell (Author), Joel Salatin (Foreword)
- Publisher: Lyons Press; Illustrated Edition (May 1, 2019)
- Pages: 240 pages
15. Backyard Farming: Raising Chickens: From Building coops to collecting eggs and more
The journey towards raising chickens starts from choosing the right breed that will suit your needs and goals. You might have goals like having a good time, get eggs and meat, or have some profit by selling them.
Whatever your goals might be, there is a breed of chickens that you can choose. This book written by Kim Pezza enables you to make the right decisions for raising the chickens. It contains all the information required from choosing the right breed to building coops, taking care of your chickens’ health, providing them with proper feed and much more. This is a complete guide that also covers collecting the eggs and to keep them safe.
- Authors: Kim Pezza (Author)
- Publisher: Hatherleigh Press; Illustrated Edition (May 28, 2013)
- Pages: 128 pages
16. Backyard Chickens for Beginners: A complete backyard raising chickens book for beginners Step by Step illustrated! Choosing the right breed, raising chicken, feeding, and care
If you are an absolute beginner and have no idea where to start with. This is the right book for you. The book presents with a step-by-step illustration of raising the chickens and understanding the process to maintain optimal health and safety for your chickens.
This book is written by Andrew McDeere and Rosanne Fox. It presents the readers with a unique and immersive perspective towards raising chickens with the help of an illustration. These illustrations will enable you to understand the conditions and required steps that you need to take for feeding, and taking the right care of your chickens.
- Authors: Andrew McDeere (Author), Rosanne Fox (Author)
- Publisher: Independently published (November 23, 2019)
- Pages: 150 pages
17. How to Raise Chickens: Everything you need to know (FFA)
This is an FFA licensed book. It has been recognized by Future Farmers of America to be the expert approach towards raising the chickens. The book is full of knowledge and noteworthy information for all.
No matter what number of chickens you are looking to raise or what your goals are. This book has all the information you will need for raising chickens in your backyard for yourself or have a full-fledge commercial poultry farm. Written by Christine Heinrichs, this book is considered the Bible for those who are looking to raise chickens and want to learn expert practices that will ensure maximum profitability and health of the chickens. The book contains elaborative information on breeds, diseases, feeding and other important aspects of raising chickens.
- Authors: Christine Heinrichs (Author)
- Publisher: Voyageur Press; 3rd Edition (January 8, 2019)
- Pages: 216 pages
18. Raising Chickens: The complete guide to raising backyard chickens, choosing a breed and how to organize the coop
If you wish to start raising your own chickens and have no idea where to start with. This is the best book for you. This book presents with the beginner’s insight for all those who are looking to start raising chickens for any goals they might have.
Written by James Barley, the book presents a highly comprehensive narrative. The information in this book is easy to understand for beginners and will enable the beginners to effectively not only read that information but also understand what is needed to be done to ensure a safe, healthy and happy flock.
- Authors: James Barley (Author)
- Publisher: Independently published (December 20, 2019)
- Pages: 173 pages
19. Raising Chickens: A step by step guide for beginners
For beginners, it can get overwhelming to choose the right breed, build a coop and raise your chickens the right way. If you are a beginner and don’t know where to start with, this might be the right read for you.
The book is written by Jason Howard. It contains a step-by-step guide for beginners who are looking for homestead methods to efficiently raise chickens for the fresh and qualitative supply of chicken and eggs for themselves and their families. The book contains some highly useful instructions and information on how you can raise chickens at home and care for them to ensure they are in optimal health.
- Authors: Jason Howard (Author)
- Publisher: Independently published (November 3, 2019)
- Pages: 193 pages
20. Raising Chickens for Dummies (For Dummies (Pets)
If you don’t have any idea on where to start from and you want to raise the chickens in your backyard. This book will be the right option for your reading experience. For dummies series is renowned for its most understandable narrative and easy to follow information.
Written by Kimberly Willis and Robert T. Ludlow, this book contains information based on hands-on experiences and knowledge of the authors. There are some highly useful instructions that you must follow if you are looking to raise chickens in your backyard. The book is great for beginners who are looking to start their journey and want to choose the right breed.
- Authors: Kimberley Willis (Author), Robert T. Ludlow (Author)
- Publisher: For Dummies; 2nd Edition (November 13, 2019)
- Pages: 408 pages
Choosing the Best Raising Chickens Books
Raising Chickens can be a tough job if you are a beginner. Also, there are certain complexities involved like choosing the right breed according to your goals and taking care of them. If you are looking to raise chickens for yourself or commercial purposes. You can have a look at these critical reviews on the books and choose the right book that will suit your needs best and will help you through the journey of raising chickens.
These books present an understandable narrative, yet each book may be different depending on the scale goals you might have in mind for raising the chickens.