Guest Author - Denise Lacazette

Keeping Pet Chickens by Johannes Paul and William Windham is a great little book for the first time pet chicken owner. The focus of the book is selecting a pet chicken and how to care for it. Before you even dive into the content of the book, there is a section in the beginning that talks about owning restrictions in the U.S. you should not skip over.

Chapters in the book cover areas like anatomy, breeds, housing, feeding, eggs, handling, and health. The introduction has a few interesting facts you may not know about the history of chickens. The chapter on anatomy is very well done. From the outside to the inside you are shown the parts of the chicken and learn their function. The egg section is full of facts and handy information. As a first time owner irregularities can cause concern, but the book helps explain some of those irregularities.


What I like about this book…

The book is very compact, yet it contains a great deal of important information. There are “Handy Hints” on every page that really adds significantly to your overall ability to be successful at keeping pet chickens. Take, for example, gathering eggs. What if you miss one or two? How do you know whether or not they are fresh when you do find them? Check out the handy hint on page 43 to check freshness. How do you get your chickens to go into their new home the first time? The handy hint on page 41 will tell you. There was not a lot of detail on human/chicken interaction from a “pet” standpoint except the handy hints on page 25 and 51, but overall the book is excellent for the novice chicken owner.

You can purchase Keeping Pet Chickens from Amazon.com.

Title: Keeping Pet Chickens
Authors: Johannes Paul and William Windham
ISBN: 0764132628