A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens

By Melissa Caughey
Soft Cover, 138 Colour Pages

Chickens make wonderful pets, and Melissa Caughey (author of the award-winning blog Tilly’s Nest) provides all the information kids need to raise healthy chickens and have tons of fun doing it!

Melissa shares her advice in an engaging way so that kids understand what it means to keep chickens and what kind of housing, food, equipment, and care the chickens will need to thrive. She also suggests lots of creative activities sure to spark enthusiasm and imagination, such as speaking chicken, creating a veggie piñata for the flock, and making a chicken fort in the backyard. She even offers ten egg-centric recipes that kids will love to make and eat, including egg drop soup and Mexican egg pizza.

The colourful photography is presented in such a way that they almost tell the story with concise captions ie the chapter on Daily Chores includes 10 photos of children doing everything from filling the chook feeder, having fun with the flock, making sure chickens are safely inside the coop at the end of the day, and tidying and cleaning the coop, to name a few. The behaviour checklist was another interesting inclusion that provided detail on exploring, laying eggs, beak rubbing, preening, pecking, roosting, crowing and alarm response. The chapter, What to Do if with a Sick Chick, details a chicken first-aid kit, vitamin and electrolyte deficiency, pasty butt and coccidiosis, curled toes, splayed legs, crop problems, feather picking, mites, lice and other pests, and how to keep the flock well. A colourful pull-out poster can be hung so you can add lists of the names and breeds of your chickens and adding a drawing or photo of your flock or your favourite chook.

Whether you have chickens already or are thinking of getting them, this is the book for you and your children. Although the title refers to the book as a kid’s reference, I found the information great for adults new to the hobby as well. Chickens can be great pets with big personalities and, to top it off, they lay beautiful fresh eggs for your table. This book will tell you all you need to know about keeping your flock healthy and happy. Learn how to feed, house and take care of them, and of course, how to enjoy them.

Bursting with energy and enthusiasm for keeping chickens, this book is a must-have for families getting started with their first flock.