Raising Chickens

“It’s a great book for any first-time hen-keeper.” – YOU magazine

Keeping and raising chickens is fun, relaxing, and low maintenance, plus you have the added benefit of your own known source of fresh eggs. In Raising Chickens, poultry breeder Suzie Baldwin offers a practical guide to everything the beginner needs to know, from whether to buy chicks or hens, what varieties to chose, how to tell if you’re buying a healthy chicken and how to ensure it stays that way, to how many chickens you should keep, and what kind of coop to buy. They also answer all the questions commonly posed by first-time owners, from whether chickens ever fly away and how quickly they will start laying, to how to prevent them being attacked by foxes and what to do when they become unwell.

Previously published as Chickens

Author Biography

Suzie Baldwin grew up on a farm in Devon and has kept chickens for more than 20 years. Her interest is in promoting the positive welfare of chickens, particularly now that they are increasingly part of the urban and semi-urban landscape. She now runs Hollywater Hens, a smallholding in Hampshire with over 300 hens, including a variety of organically reared hybrid and pure breed chickens. Suzie also holds regular courses on chicken keeping, many of which are for disadvantaged children, whose lives, research suggests, are enriched by looking after hens.