A comprehensive beginner's book, this introduction to raising chickens covers the key aspects of keeping your own hens and benefiting from the produce! Over 50 breeds of hen are featured, including heavy, light, and bantam breeds - Beginner-friendly guide to getting started includes choosing your birds and getting set up for the first time - Expert advice on housing, food and water, daily care, disease prevention, encouraging egg production, breeding, and more - Useful tips for winterizing, going on vacation, and exhibiting your birds, plus a FAQ section, resources, and glossary This authoritative book provides an introduction to the key aspects of acquiring a self-sufficient lifestyle by keeping your own chickens. Self-sufficiency and organic living have never been more prominent, and hen keeping is becoming an increasingly popular way to ensure you have fresh produce at your fingertips! You don't need a large garden to keep poultry. An average family only needs a couple of hens in order to keep well-stocked in fresh eggs all year round. The set-up costs are minimal and you don't need a whole host of expensive gadgets or equipment to care for your chickens. Self-Sufficiency: Hen Keeping is packed with information on housing, food and water, daily care, disease prevention and cure, encouraging egg production and breeding, and more. There is also comprehensive information on available breeds and a list of useful resources. If you're concerned about living a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle, this handbook is meant to help—offering advice on what to do, how to do it better, and how to save money by raising your own chickens! Hen Keeping is a comprehensive beginner's book. -- "PoultryKeeper.com" This book provides a good starting place to ensure that you have everything you need to know at your fingertips... If your aim is to keep hens for their eggs on a small scale, then Self-Sufficiency: Hen Keeping should be at the top of your to-read list. -- "The Rural" This introduction to raising chickens covers housing, food and water, daily care, disease prevention, encouraging egg production, breeding, and more. Self-sufficiency and organic living have never been more prevalent than in recent years. Keeping hens is becoming increasingly popular and is one way of ensuring you have fresh produce at your fingertips. This authoritative book provides an introduction to some of the key aspects of keeping your own chickens and benefiting from the produce. You don't need a large garden to keep poultry, and an average family only needs a couple of hens to keep them well stocked in fresh eggs all year round. The set-up costs are minimal and you don't need a whole host of expensive gadgets or equipment to get started or care for your chickens. Packed with useful information on poultry keeping (housing, food and water, daily care routines, disease prevention and cure, encouraging egg production, and breeding), there is also comprehensive information on breeds and a list of useful contacts. MIKE HATCHER has a lifetime's experience in keeping poultry. He began his career in commercial poultry and later crossed into pure breeds. He holds a qualification in Poultry Husbandry from the Lancashire College of Agriculture. He has judged in the UK, USA, Canada and Holland, and writes for various poultry magazines. He is now President of the Poultry Club of Great Britain, and has worked with DEFRA to reduce the impact of avian influenza on small poultry keepers. 'This book provides a good starting place to ensure that you have everything you need to know at your fingertips... If your aim is to keep hens for their eggs on a small-scale, then Self-Sufficiency: Hen Keeping should be at the top of your to-read list.' —THE RURAL Mike Hatcher , retired President of the Poultry Club of Great Britain, has a lifetime’s experience in keeping poultry. He began his career in commercial poultry and later crossed into pure breeds. He holds a qualification in Poultry Husbandry from the Lancashire College of Agriculture. He has judged in the UK, USA, Canada and Holland, and writes for various poultry magazines. He has worked with DEFRA to reduce the impact of avian influenza on small poultry keepers.