About this item
Every common breed of chicken, organized into one information-packed guide. Fueled by the local and organic food movements, as well as a sea change in local ordinances, backyard chicken keeping is booming. Anyone who's decided to join the new wave of chicken keepers knows that the poultry breeds available are dizzying in their variety. Calm your anxiety with this book--a guide for backyard chicken keepers in search of chickens that best fit their needs.Each breed of chicken listed in the field guide is thoroughly described and is illustrated by color photos. The book tells you all about the bird, detailing each breed's particular usefulness, adaptation to climate, coloration, number of eggs typically laid, foraging ability, temperament, and unique qualities.
About the Author
Growing up in New York's north Jersey suburbs, I knew nothing about chickens. When my daughter wanted baby chicks, I got some, and searched for a book about them. There wasn't one, so, being a writer, I wrote one. When How to Raise Chickens was published in 2007, people were puzzled. "Is it a cookbook? " Today, every person I talk to is either raising chickens or knows someone who is. The change couldn't be more complete. How to Raise Poultry, comprising ducks, geese, turkeys, guineafowl and other domestically raised birds as well as chickens, was published in 2009, and a revised edition in 2014. Chickens became the mascot of the local food movement.My B.S. is in journalism from the University of Oregon, making me a Fighting Duck. Perhaps that was fortuitous and foretold a future that included a lot of poultry!The Backyard Field Guide to Chickens was published in 2016. The third edition of How to Raise Chickens was published in 2019.My magazine articles appear regularly in publications ranging from Audubon and Backyard Poultry to Diversity in Action. I am a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, Northern California Science Writers Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors and Ten Spurs, the honorary society of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. I am a member of the American Poultry Association, where I serve on the Flock Inspection Committee, the American Bantam Association and the Livestock Conservancy. I'm a member of the Association of Living History Farms and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) and have written for their national and regional publications.
