Getting Started With Your Working Chicken: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Backyard Eggs & Meat

Anna Hess

Feb 2013 · Permaculture Chicken Book 1 · Wetknee Books

About this ebook

Get ready for your new flock in thirty minutes or less!

This short, sweet, and self-sufficient guide shows beginners how to keep chickens as part of a rural or urban homestead. Learn everything you need to know to get started on your poultry adventure, with quick answers to frequently asked questions like:

What kind of chickens should I get?

Which color eggs are best?

How many chickens should I get?

Should I add a rooster to my flock?

Where should I get my chickens?

She's so cute! Can I name her?

When should I kill my chickens?

What infrastructure do I need to make my chickens happy?

What should I feed my chickens?

Should my chickens have a tractor, a coop, or be free range?

How much space do my chickens need?

How do I manage my working flock?

What is the chicken's place in the farm ecosystem?

"The author gives just what is needed to get started raising chickens." —- Veronica

"This is a quick little book packed with lots of good realistic advice." —- TSP

"A great first-read for anyone considering raising chickens. Lots of useful factual information for the experienced chicken keeper as well as for the beginner." —- pamela

Ratings and reviews

About a five minute read and worth the five minutes. Chickens should be fed commercial chicken feed isn't the most helpful information, but it is well illustrated with photographs.

This was full of good thought provoking ideas. They were presented in a way so as to make you consider the many Pros and Cons of keeping chickens, realistically! Touches memories I have of growing up with chickens as part of my daily life. Thanks for doing a good job!

Great information to get started in raising your own flock(s). Quick read that's packed full of great tips and advice.

About the author

Anna Hess dreamed about moving back to the land ever since her parents dragged her off their family farm at the age of eight. She worked as a field biologist and nonprofit organizer before acquiring fifty-eight acres and a husband, then quit her job to homestead full time. She admits that real farm life involves a lot more hard work than her childhood memories entailed, but the reality is much more fulfilling and she loves pigging out on sun-warmed strawberries and experimenting with no-till gardening, mushroom propagation, and chicken pasturing.

She also enjoys writing about the adventures, both on her blog at WaldenEffect.org, and in her books. Her first paperback, The Weekend Homesteader, helped thousands of homesteaders-to-be find ways to fit their dreams into the hours leftover from a full-time job. In addition, a heaping handful of ebooks serve a similar purpose.