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Backyard Chickens for Beginners: Getting the Best Chickens, Choosing Coops, Feeding and Care, and Beating City Chicken Laws

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Valuable guide for beginners on how to start a backyard mini-flock of 2-4 chickens and get fresh eggs every day. Provides all the information you need on chickens, coops, run areas, feeding and caring, and dealing with neighbors and city chicken laws. Written by the author of the best-selling Fresh Food From Small Spaces book, a former columnist for Urban Farm magazine. Topics include: Fresh Eggs Every Day How Much Space Do You Need? Building or Buying a Coop Feeders, Waterers, Nesting Boxes, and Roosts Getting Chicks or Chickens Feeding Your Chickens Tips for Cold Climates Health and Safety Dealing with Neighbors, City Chicken Laws, and Other Challenges Resources: Everything You Need! Fresh eggs every day This 36-page booklet provides the ultimate beginner's guide to raising chickens for eggs in a city or suburban backyard. You can pay $10-$30 for a longer book containing lots of filler material you don't need. Are you really going to start a chick hatching business, compost doggy doo, or perform surgery on a sick hen? Stick to the essentials and pay a lot less. Everything You Need to Get Started! Are you ready to start raising chickens on a small scale? This booklet has all the information you really need to know on getting chicks or chickens for the city, where and how to find a good coop, what other items you need (feeders, waterers, nesting boxes), and how to feed your chickens nutritious food that will make the best eggs you have ever tasted. Learn some tips for proper chicken health and safety as well as for getting your chickens through cold winters in freezing climates. Learn how to deal with neighbors and restrictive city chicken laws so that no one can stop you from raising chickens for fresh eggs. Includes Free Resources Section Includes a great Resources chapter with organized links to every important piece of information available for free online, including more information on coops and city chicken laws. Some people say this section alone is worth the price of this booklet. Get access to all the resources and support you will ever need to help you have a great experience raising backyard chickens. Never pay a penny more for chicken info! Get started today and enjoy fresh eggs from your own backyard!

42 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2012

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About the author

R.J. Ruppenthal

24 books6 followers

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5 stars
112 (33%)
4 stars
119 (35%)
3 stars
79 (23%)
2 stars
19 (5%)
1 star
9 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Kali.
4 reviews
May 6, 2018
Super informative. Now I don’t want chickens.

Great book full of info. Everyone I talked to said owning chickens was a joy. But honestly even though I had some when I was younger I didn’t do all the hands on care. They were free range chickens. It sounds like a whole lot of work I don’t want to do. Thank you!
21 reviews1 follower
November 28, 2015
Very informative

I am planning to build a chicken coop four 4 to 6 chickens this book was very helpful. It is short but very informative. It gave me all the information I need. Not only is a good source but it gives you lists of places for more information on every subject you would need. Also hatcheries, I found one closest to me. Amazing to find a book that gives you a list of other books and sources, the author must care more about helping us to raise our chickens than his personal gain. I was impressed.
Profile Image for Kelly.
116 reviews28 followers
July 4, 2014
I found this short kindle book easy to read, informative, and useful for someone like me-who is just getting into the backyard chicken scene. I also found the hyperlinks helpful - because now I have a better idea of which websites to go to and for what purpose.
20 reviews
March 12, 2015
Great overview. Geared more toward urban chicken keeping.
9 reviews1 follower
October 23, 2016
Nice food for thought

This booklet contains a surprising amount of information for those considering raising backyard chickens for their eggs. With quite a few resource links one can browse, the author gives both inexpensive as well as more deluxe options from which to choose. I recommend this as good entry level book.
77 reviews
May 21, 2017
Raising chickens is not hard

So what does it take to raise chickens & why should you? Also how many should you raise?
All these questions & more answered. Plus which chicken breed should you get? I enjoyed this book - helped me make some decisions. Now on I go.
Profile Image for Chowhound88 (a.k.a. Ralph).
104 reviews1 follower
October 30, 2017
Getting started with chickens

A very good read. This eBook has a lot of useful information that will help you get started raising chickens.
Profile Image for Mariann.
181 reviews
January 27, 2018
This is a short, concise, easy to understand guide for raising chickens in your back yard. There is lots of information and many online sources included.
Profile Image for Michelle.
99 reviews10 followers
March 25, 2018
Definitely a good beginner book, but people who actually have chickens and want to investigate further, will need to branch out.
2 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2018
Decent place to start research

This is a decent book to begin your research into owning backyard chickens. Gives good references for additional research books/websites.
44 reviews
January 8, 2020
Lots of good information. I just wish it had some extra pictures especially showing coops and chicken runs
Profile Image for M D.
92 reviews2 followers
January 16, 2022
Easy enough to finish in a day, provides some good info as well as tips/tricks. Not detailed enough for anything more than an overview.
Profile Image for C is for **censored**.
242 reviews8 followers
May 19, 2014
The star rating given reflects my opinion within ‘the official goodreads rating system’.

1 star: Didn’t Like it
2 stars: It’s Okay
3 stars: Liked it
4 stars: Really Liked it
5 stars: It Was Amazing

I don’t really give a rat-fuck that there are some who think I ‘owe’ an explanation for my opinion. Nope, nada, and not sorry about it.

Sometimes I may add notes to explain what my opinions are based on, and sometimes I don’t. I do this for me, on my books, in my library and I don’t ‘owe’ any special snowflakes a thing. Fuck off if you don’t like it and stop reading my shit.

Particularly given the ‘modifications’ to reader’s personal content going on (and outright censorship), unless particularly motivated I will not comment in detail.

It would help if GR was forthcoming in the new ‘appropriate’ and would make a site-wide announcement delineating the new focus from a reader-centric site to one that is now for authors and selling.

Profile Image for Stephanie.
156 reviews7 followers
December 7, 2015
Written by a California lawyer, so it gets its points across succinctly! I feel better informed about my springtime plans, especially regarding coops and logistics. This is a good addition to your chicken planning library. If you want to know more about breeds, he has another book -- and apparently he loves potatoes and has written about them as well. All topics close to my heart.
Profile Image for Terry.
138 reviews2 followers
Read
February 20, 2014
Not a bad book. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it. The information was consistent with what I was getting in other locations. If you're thinking about getting chickens, I'd suggest read through this.
Profile Image for Kelly.
116 reviews28 followers
July 4, 2014
I found this short kindle book easy to read, informative, and useful for someone like me-who is just getting into the backyard chicken scene. I also found the hyperlinks helpful - because now I have a better idea of which websites to go to and for what purpose.
22 reviews
July 11, 2014
Very good information about raising chickens

This booklet has a lot of good information about raising chickens. I love all of the links. A must have for people who want to have chickens.

Profile Image for Nikki.
54 reviews1 follower
June 14, 2015
great intro

Not quite a 101, this is a great asset for someone debating raising chickens off the farm. It's a superb resource for someone who is just starting to consider their options.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
68 reviews
July 14, 2016
This was more of a booklet than a book. Nice, easy read covering a host of issues and resources, but I don't feel complete in my research and will be obtaining a more in-depth book on chickens. This was not the one-stop-book I was hoping for.
Profile Image for Britt.
14 reviews
April 28, 2017
Fantastic backyard chicken keeping for beginners book

This book really went over everything someone new to backyard chicken keeping needs to know. Impressed with the range of topics covered and the ease at which they are laid out. Definitely recommend for newbie basics.
Profile Image for Travis.
70 reviews11 followers
July 7, 2013
Interesting enough; it's a booklet more than a book and provides some basic info that's more collected than having to read a handful of blogs or articles.
Profile Image for Daniel Ace.
227 reviews36 followers
July 19, 2014
A very full pamphlet of helpful details and knowledge for those who want to start raising their own chickens. Many solid links listed as well for more detail on the subject. Nicely done.
Profile Image for Jeniann.
12 reviews
January 14, 2015
good information

Good information and resources for someone new to backyard chickens. I'm glad I was able to find this, I can see it will likely be useful when I get my chickens.
Profile Image for Andrew Rose.
337 reviews5 followers
June 9, 2015
This was a pretty good resource for my family as beginning chicken farmers. We started out with two and we'll see how they go from there.
Profile Image for Laurab.
18 reviews
July 1, 2015
Basic information. But very helpful for me as brand new to this.
17 reviews
July 23, 2015
Very Informative

Very detailed. A lot of information in on spot. A book worth making part of your library. I loved the details.
Profile Image for Lindsey.
268 reviews
July 22, 2016
Very informative, I can't wait to get our pullets.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews