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Gardening with Chickens: Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens
Welcome to a world where chickens and gardens coexist! Join Lisa Steele, chicken-keeper extraordinaire and founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, on a unique journey through the garden. Start by planning your garden and learning strategies and tips for keeping your plants safe while they grow. Plant with purpose, choosing from a dozen plans for theme gardens such as Orange Egg Yolks or Nesting Box Herbs. Or choose a design that's filled with edibles - sharing the bounty with your family and your feathered friends. Then comes the fun enjoy the harvest, even let the chickens graze! Lisa's friendly writing, together with inspirational photos and illustrations, will have you rolling up your sleeves and reaching for your gardening tools. Lisa also covers a range of topics just for chicken-keepers, - Chickens and composting - Using chickens to aerate and till - Coop window boxes - Plants to avoid when you have chickens - Lists of the most valuable crops and herbs - Advice on how to harvest and use many of the plants - And much more! Whether you're an experienced chicken keeper, master gardener, or just getting into these two wonderful hobbies, Gardening with Chickens is an indispensable guide for a harmonious homestead.
176 pages, Paperback
Published November 4, 2016
57 people are currently reading
651 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Steele
12 books56 followersLISA STEELE | Fresh Eggs Daily
Dubbed “Queen of the Coop” by the media, Lisa Steele is a 5th generation chicken keeper, author of several top-selling books on raising poultry as well as two cookbooks. She is founder of the popular backyard chicken keeping brand Fresh Eggs Daily with nearly 1 million followers worldwide. In her free time, Lisa can usually be found cooking and baking using fresh produce from the garden and fresh eggs from her coop or curled up in a corner reading. She lives on a small farm in Maine with her husband, their corgi, and mixed flock of nearly three dozen chickens, ducks and geese. She loves pretty things, good coffee, classical music and snow - especially at Christmas time.
Learn more at: www.fresheggsdaily.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/FreshEggsDaily
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FreshEggsDaily
Email to: Lisa@fresheggsdaily.com
Dubbed “Queen of the Coop” by the media, Lisa Steele is a 5th generation chicken keeper, author of several top-selling books on raising poultry as well as two cookbooks. She is founder of the popular backyard chicken keeping brand Fresh Eggs Daily with nearly 1 million followers worldwide. In her free time, Lisa can usually be found cooking and baking using fresh produce from the garden and fresh eggs from her coop or curled up in a corner reading. She lives on a small farm in Maine with her husband, their corgi, and mixed flock of nearly three dozen chickens, ducks and geese. She loves pretty things, good coffee, classical music and snow - especially at Christmas time.
Learn more at: www.fresheggsdaily.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/FreshEggsDaily
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FreshEggsDaily
Email to: Lisa@fresheggsdaily.com
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 8, 2017
If wishes were horses then this gal would be frolicking with chickens in her garden.
It's just a dream for me, but if you're planning to make your chicken gardening wishes come true, this is the book for you.
It's just a dream for me, but if you're planning to make your chicken gardening wishes come true, this is the book for you.
February 2, 2017
It seems that Lisa's books are always timed just right for where I'm at in life. This book was a great way for me to prepare for having my first big garden at our new house.
I picked up some good tips for our run, which was quickly finished before the snow came. Once things thaw out, I'm eager to put these ideas to work. Actually, I've found a few tips that I can start using already in the middle of winter, like uses for the ash from our wood stove, and adding certain items to the feed.
I'd highly recommend this book to any chicken keeper or gardener. The photography and typography in this book are simply amazing!
I picked up some good tips for our run, which was quickly finished before the snow came. Once things thaw out, I'm eager to put these ideas to work. Actually, I've found a few tips that I can start using already in the middle of winter, like uses for the ash from our wood stove, and adding certain items to the feed.
I'd highly recommend this book to any chicken keeper or gardener. The photography and typography in this book are simply amazing!
June 4, 2018
Mixed bag. Probably 50% of the book is nonsense herbal cures for various chicken issues. To the author's credit, she at least puts in disclaimers that none of it is scientifically verified in any way whatsoever. But if you can pick through the pseudo-herbalist nonsense, there's also some genuinely good advice on keeping chickens contained, strategically deploying them into the garden, growing food/fodder/enrichment for them, and various composting techniques for their feces.
August 7, 2017
What an interesting book with lots of photos and illustrations! If I were a few years younger or had my granddaughter nearby to help me construct chicken runs, then I'd definitely purchase some hens to keep the garden free of Japanese beetles, if nothing else! Steele addresses using chickens to help aerate the soil, what to plant and how to harvest, raising chickens as a hobby, and much more!
January 8, 2019
I'm new to chicken keeping and have yet to test out most of Lisa's natural chicken keeping recipes and practices, but I like that there are alternatives to all the medications/antibiotics out there. Looks like a really good book and if you like nothing else about it, it has great pictures.
November 12, 2017
Wonderful inspiration! This book has taught me so much about chickens and gardening. It provides lots of interesting facts and truly motivates you to get out in the garden. Also the photography is impeccable.
November 14, 2016
Steele did a good job of integrated the basics of gardening with enough advanced information to hold my interest. Plus, the photographs are scrumptious!
August 17, 2017
Good ideas. I'm already plotting.
April 1, 2025
Couldn’t be a more perfect book for spring! The pictures are so sweet and there are many of them! This girl knows her stuff. She has so much herb knowledge, landscaping hacks, and just all around experience with outdoor living. I want to read everything she’s written.👏
February 17, 2023
Really good tips for plants for chickens and landscaping your run! However, didn't agree with all the things..
October 7, 2019
There are plenty of books about taking care of animals and plenty of books about gardening, but there are few books that seek to combine the two. One of the more traditional byways of gardening (or farming) is doing companion farming, where one grows crops that provide and require complementary nutrients and so help each other out, like pumpkin/squash and corn and peppers, or something of that nature. In this case the author suggests ways that gardening can be made more productive through being done in coordination with raising chickens (and other birds). This is done through growing plants that chickens are not allergic too while also taking steps to make sure that the chickens do not destroy the plants and encouraging ways for chickens to use their foraging ability to help reduce the amount of pests that bother plants growing up. To be sure, growing both plants and chickens in close proximity is by no means an easy task, but this book does a good job at showing how the task can be managed through thinking and planning ahead and building a good infrastructure for one's gardening and raising issues.
This particular book is between 150 and 200 pages and is divided into 7 chapters. The author begins with an introduction and then discusses some issues in getting started (1), including planning one's garden location, creating a chicken-safe yard, starting plants, and gardening with chickens in all seasons. After that there is a discussion about planning and constructing a raised-bed garden (2). Then there is a look at herbal feed supplement gardens (3) that provide nutrients for chickens and maximize egg production, orange egg yolks, or help raise healthy chicks. Then there is a look at edible gardens and one's chickens (4), with a discussion of soil for edibles, good and bad bugs, gardening in the spring and fall, and edibles to avoid for chickens. There is a discussion of creative gardens for chicken keepers (5) that includes natural wormers, edible flowers, nesting boxes, and first-aid kits. Then there is a chapter on composting that looks at chicken manure and its usefulness as well as chicken poop tea (6). Finally, the book ends with a chapter on how someone can landscape their chicken run with perennials, annuals, and other landscaping, after which the book ends with some information about the author as well as acknowledgements, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
I have to admit that I found this book rather funny. I have never raised chickens myself but plenty of my friends have been urban and suburban and exurban chicken raisers who have combined their gardening with plenty of fowl. The two activities can definitely be done together, although keeping one's chickens safe and sound while also making sure to grow foods that are good for one's family (and one's fowl) can be a challenge. The author of this book clearly has as lot of experience in combining the tasks of raising chickens (and ducks, it should be noted) as well as gardening and has some worthwhile tasks on how the two can be put together for fun and profit. Not everyone will appreciate the author's occasionally earthy humor, but if you are going to want to raise chickens it is pretty likely that you will need to be able to handle and appreciate plenty of jokes about manure. I was only disappointed, and even that only a little, by the way that the author failed to make jokes about the movie Chicken Run since she was making plenty of references to her homemade and quite entertaining chicken runs that she used to make sure that the chickens stayed in the right areas.
This particular book is between 150 and 200 pages and is divided into 7 chapters. The author begins with an introduction and then discusses some issues in getting started (1), including planning one's garden location, creating a chicken-safe yard, starting plants, and gardening with chickens in all seasons. After that there is a discussion about planning and constructing a raised-bed garden (2). Then there is a look at herbal feed supplement gardens (3) that provide nutrients for chickens and maximize egg production, orange egg yolks, or help raise healthy chicks. Then there is a look at edible gardens and one's chickens (4), with a discussion of soil for edibles, good and bad bugs, gardening in the spring and fall, and edibles to avoid for chickens. There is a discussion of creative gardens for chicken keepers (5) that includes natural wormers, edible flowers, nesting boxes, and first-aid kits. Then there is a chapter on composting that looks at chicken manure and its usefulness as well as chicken poop tea (6). Finally, the book ends with a chapter on how someone can landscape their chicken run with perennials, annuals, and other landscaping, after which the book ends with some information about the author as well as acknowledgements, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
I have to admit that I found this book rather funny. I have never raised chickens myself but plenty of my friends have been urban and suburban and exurban chicken raisers who have combined their gardening with plenty of fowl. The two activities can definitely be done together, although keeping one's chickens safe and sound while also making sure to grow foods that are good for one's family (and one's fowl) can be a challenge. The author of this book clearly has as lot of experience in combining the tasks of raising chickens (and ducks, it should be noted) as well as gardening and has some worthwhile tasks on how the two can be put together for fun and profit. Not everyone will appreciate the author's occasionally earthy humor, but if you are going to want to raise chickens it is pretty likely that you will need to be able to handle and appreciate plenty of jokes about manure. I was only disappointed, and even that only a little, by the way that the author failed to make jokes about the movie Chicken Run since she was making plenty of references to her homemade and quite entertaining chicken runs that she used to make sure that the chickens stayed in the right areas.
August 9, 2018
For me, this book was definitely only about half useful. While I agree that allowing your flock access to plants will bring more fulfillment to their life, I don’t believe herbs do everything Lisa Steele claims they do. As Kathy Shea Mormino (the Chicken Chick) points out in her guide: “Healthy pet chickens do not need gimmicks or a steady supply of supplements, herbs, or additives to be healthy or to improve the quality of their eggs, their plumage, their immune systems, or their happiness.” Unfortunately, the idea that you should supply your chickens with certain herbs if you want certain things is the bulk of this book. Still, Steele provides her readers with solutions on how to use your chickens to your gardening advantage as well as how to protect your plants from your chickens. She even shares a more useful First-Aid Garden of herbs to have on hand for when your chickens aren't perfectly healthy. She also has great advice on how to not only start your garden, but also how to compost. Actually, for me, the most interesting thing mentioned in Gardening with Chickens was the deep-litter-compost that you can do during really cold months, right inside your chicken coop. This not only saves you from having to clean your chicken coop in freezing weather, but it also keeps the chicken coop warm!
November 11, 2017
I just finished reading"Chicken Fact or Chicken Poop" with all their facts about how herbs don't keep bugs out of the nest, nor do they help deworm chickens, and all sorts of other facts or fictions about raising backyard chickens.
Then I come to this book, which says the exact opposite, so take this with a grain or two of salt. The above book was written with the help of veterinarians. This book was written by a Chicken Whisperer, so your milage may vary.
If nothing else, even if you don't have chickens, this book is good for growing herbs and flowers that you can use on yourself, and your chickens will enjoy the fresh greens, even if they do not work as dewormers.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Then I come to this book, which says the exact opposite, so take this with a grain or two of salt. The above book was written with the help of veterinarians. This book was written by a Chicken Whisperer, so your milage may vary.
If nothing else, even if you don't have chickens, this book is good for growing herbs and flowers that you can use on yourself, and your chickens will enjoy the fresh greens, even if they do not work as dewormers.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
August 21, 2018
The best of the gardening and chickens books I have encountered this spring/ summer (we became urban chicken farmers in April). This one assumes you get most of your chicken information from a chicken book and you're using the book for GARDEN information, and also that you're not a total novice gardener. I have found too many gardening with chickens books that are trying to be both a chicken book and a garden book, and do neither well. This one doesn't tell you lots and lots about how to choose baby chicks and raise them -- thank you!
Excellent lists of plants to grow for specific things (like "chicken digestive plants" or "make the yolks brighter yellow plants"). Index was comprehensive and useful, always a requirement for me in nonfiction books.
I originally checked it out of the library, but I decided it was a good enough resource that I bought a copy to keep.
Excellent lists of plants to grow for specific things (like "chicken digestive plants" or "make the yolks brighter yellow plants"). Index was comprehensive and useful, always a requirement for me in nonfiction books.
I originally checked it out of the library, but I decided it was a good enough resource that I bought a copy to keep.
July 2, 2025
This is a book with a specific niche. Gardening with, and for, chickens. Obviously, the author took 2 of the things she loves and puts them together in daily life as well as this book.
With topics such as how chickens can help get soil ready for planting, plants that are good for chickens and how they are good, plants that stand up to chicken roaming or nesting, landscaping, and plenty of uses for plants this is an in-dept book on how chickens and gardens go together. I really appreciated learning what flowers I could safely plant. Just in case the chickens decided to eat them! Also looking forward to learning more about what herbs are good for chickens.
With topics such as how chickens can help get soil ready for planting, plants that are good for chickens and how they are good, plants that stand up to chicken roaming or nesting, landscaping, and plenty of uses for plants this is an in-dept book on how chickens and gardens go together. I really appreciated learning what flowers I could safely plant. Just in case the chickens decided to eat them! Also looking forward to learning more about what herbs are good for chickens.
April 25, 2022
I'm not going to lie, having a garden and chickens sounded like a daunting task for someone who's never in her life done either. But after reading this book, I feel so much better. Lisa Steele gives you so many ideas about not only planting, but how to incorporate a system that utilizes chickens in the process. I never thought about what the chicken coop would look like, especially in conjunction to the garden, but now I have so many more ideas and strategies to work with. Yes, it's another task in my to-do list but now I'm working together how all of the pieces can work together.
February 12, 2023
This was the first book I read about chicken keeping, and I LOVED it. About halfway through, I added it to my wishlist to purchase so I can have a copy to refer back to. I am already a gardener, so the parts about starting a garden weren't especially helpful for me, but I loved learning about how to incorporate chickens into my garden (and vice versa). I actually took a lot of notes about gardening with chickens, and definitely plan to use many strategies suggested by the author when we finally get our first flock.
November 14, 2025
Gardening with Chickens is such a delightful and genuinely useful guide. Lisa Steele blends gardening advice with chicken care in a way that feels natural and easy to follow. I really enjoyed the themed garden ideas and the practical tips for keeping plants safe while still letting the hens explore. The photos and illustrations add a lot of inspiration too. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to grab your tools and try something new. A great pick for anyone who wants a more harmonious backyard with their flock.
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September 17, 2019Some useful information here! I like the idea of growing more herbs to share with chickens.
November 24, 2019
This is a great book. It is worth owning.
January 19, 2020
Fantastic! And beautiful pictures too.
April 12, 2021
Good solid info for less experienced chicken parents with a garden. Great photos. Lots of ideas to inspire the gardener.
May 30, 2021
Great guides and recommendations!
May 13, 2024
Good information and a fun read — inspiring for creating a chicken-garden!
December 10, 2025
Good reference book for planting with your chickens in mind!
March 17, 2022
Steele is knowledgeable about chickens and gardens. She puts out the information very well and I will be referring to her work throughout the year as I begin integrating the garden and chickens into my own homestead.
February 3, 2017
Great book
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews