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

This is the chicken handbook that should be on every chicken keeper's shelf. Pam Freeman did a wonderful job of tackling the tough subjects. And she did it while making the book appealing to the eye! The photos are beautiful, and I do have a soft spot for gorgeous chicken photography!. After you get past drooling over the pretty pictures, the book is full of meaty information that we all had to learn as we traveled the backyard chicken journey. I appreciate how Pam tackled the tough questions, and the unpleasant topics such as illness and predators. As a chicken keeper, writer and blogger, we do get these sad questions frequently. Now there is a book that has up to date, realistic information that can help the chicken keeper work through a problem or health issue. The in depth review of predator behavior is so helpful when you are deciding if you should free range your flock or keep them in a run attached to the coop.Being a keeper of multiple roosters in our flock, I loved reading the chapter on roosters. Their care, behavior, and the nitty gritty facts of chicken mating are covered here. Don't miss the interesting information on what characteristics are found attractive by a hen! Your roosters may enjoy hearing what makes them more attractive to the ladies!Lastly, I must mention and area near and dear to my heart. I am so glad that Pam covered the natural feeding and use of herbs subject in the book. I am always looking for more resources in this area.I highly recommend the book to you; I will be honest and say that although I bought my copy and am doing this review without being requested to do so, I do personally know Pam and consider her a fine editor and writer. I think you will agree with me after you read Backyard Chickens - Beyond the Basics.

I have been a chicken keeper for over 10 years and have read and researched anything I could find to learn about chickens over the years. This book is my new favorite, it has lots of useful information. The author didn't mention or recommend installing a camera system to monitor your chickens. After I had lost a couple of chickens, I installed an infrared camera system with 4 cameras and a monitor on my wall behind my TV and I saw foxes, skunks, and raccoons. As soon as one of these culprits showed up on the monitor, I would go outside and convince them it was not a good idea to bother my chickens. A fox can be kept out by a good fence but a raccoon will climb 8 feet up a fence and a skunk will dig a 3 foot trench under buried wire to gain access, it takes the skunk a few hours to gain access.

Look is a combination of very useful, thorough information and Beautiful photography. Covering all of the topics that anyone interested in having chickens would need to know. From egg health and abnormal looking eggs to the health and diseases that must be avoided with your chickens and all of the useful information in between.

This book is an easy read, has lots of pictures, side notes and covers more than most chicken books I've read. For example, there is a chapter devoted on how to care for chickens for all 4 seasons, what herbs are good for chickens, and a tip on keeping herbs in coop to keep away pests so well as giving your chickens a little something to nibble on. This book is geared towards first timers, does not come across as overwhelming.

This Book Is AWESOME I Read The Whole Entire Book And Now I’m A Chicken Nerd

Right now I have several birds. This isn't my first go-round with chickens but I no longer had any of the books I previously had and I was looking to expand my knowledge. I purchased this and found it an interesting and enjoyable read, but it is hardly "beyond the basics." If you want to know about specific treatments for chicken issues or how to do things like clip a chicken's wings, you'll need to look elsewhere. I would recommend this book for people who are just getting started with keeping chickens, but not for someone who is experienced. That said, I did get a couple of ideas that I might integrate into my coop including an easy way to provide roost bars and dust baths. Otherwise, it was pleasant reading but not all that helpful when you're going to have to dig even deeper for most other information.

This is an awesome book. Filled with more than just the basics- all great information about treating the chickens with natural ingredients. Like what to put in their water and feed etc... Its been very useful.

Even as a seasoned owner of a large flock of laying hens, there was a lot of great info in this book!

Informative with troubleshooting guide for chicken. Do recommend.

Great information. Very nice illustrations.

After reading backyard basics, this was a wonderful read to build on primary knowledge obtained. Well structured and organised too.

És un llibre molt fàcil de llegir, que t'enganxa i t'ho explica tot sobre aquests animals. Hi ha molts trucs i consells.

This book is down to earth, written in a way anyone can understand it. It is simple but covers many areas for the chicken keeper. It's a valuable resource to have, I'd recommend it to anyone keeping chickens.