Highly recommended if you are interested in starting a hen house or just want fun information about chickens. My rating: 4.5.

This is a great resource for anyone looking to start raising chickens. It covers pros and cons, rewards and costs, joys and losses. As noted in the blurb, the book covers from preparing to house your chickens, selecting them, caring for them with proper food, exercise, safety and health issues, and ultimately enjoying their unique antics, attention and morning songs.

I was impressed with the extent of information shared in an easy to read and reference style. There are pictures, highlighted definitions, and specific how-tos shared, all of which contribute to an engaging flow. Having recently raised chickens I wish that I had read this first. Fortunately my husband is a great hands on, common sense guy (which off sets my book learning, follow directions style). This is really well done and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to start a flock.

Source: 2019 NetGalley.

I have been thinking about having chickens to provide eggs for us. This book was just what I needed to tell me all the things I need to know. I enjoyed the author's sense of humor and very valuable information.

This book is a great opportunity to learn from someone’s direct experience. Kuo starting raising chickens later in life, and shares her wisdom. Her information in some areas reads like a ‘raising chicken for dummies’ – in that the information is straight-forward and detailed. The book is divided into ‘before chickens’ and ‘after chickens,’ and does a good job of convincing you that there is much to do before you take possession of your first chick. She also provides multiple considerations on various topics – pros and cons of raising chickens, types of coops, breeds, and real-life situations surrounding behaviors and illnesses. Three areas I really like: (1) pros/cons of coop types, with building diagrams for each, (2) top 10 breeds for beginners, and (3) list of resources including information, organizations, and magazines.

Kuo does a great job of giving advice/direction on certain specifics – such as how often to deal with chicken waste, changing out the materials in brood boxes, and what to look for in behavior and illnesses. What’s missing in this basic ‘how-to’ manual is the time required – in general and on a daily basis. She provides solid information on having chicks, moving them to a coop, and how long before they start laying eggs. However, there’s no information on how much time these animals will need at each of these stages. Given the audience for this book (beginners), omitting any information regarding overall time needed or suggested scheduling (i.e. do ‘this’ every morning, do ‘this’ one a week, do ‘this’ only when they are in the coop) seems to be a miss. Kuo also misses a great opportunity to recommend beginners start with a certain number of chickens, and what breeds might be the best companions. For example, for a family of five looking for fresh eggs every day, how many chickens would you recommend? If I wanted to start with 10 chicks, should I get 10 different breeds (which I know sounds ridiculous) or perhaps five, or only two? So much of the book is practical advice, but these finer points for beginners seem to be missing. Still, I feel that this book has a tremendous amount of good information for the beginner, and I would recommend it.

Personally, chickens are on my wish list. I’m still researching and find value in all information. I blog about gardening as well as my desire to have chickens at www.Patch405.com.

I received an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

My longtime readers know about my love of chickens and some even know about the current delay of my New Hampshire Chickens Plan, due to the presence of Mama Fox, her two kits, and two feisty raccoons, Roxy and Hissy, frequently out during the daytime hours in my backyard. (Insert image of Edvard Munch's scream here.) Nevertheless, I'm still planning for chickens, and while not as detailed ask some of Chicken Chick Kathy Shea Mormino's books, this is a great starter book for families wanting to raise chickens. It's packed full of advice in a very accessible format. I can heartily recommend it for anyone considering chickens as pets, or part of an integrated pest management program (they will eat ticks!). There's a bunch of simple and practical advice about building a coop, making it secure, and where precisely to locate it to prevent your chickens' being exposed to excessive damp or heat. That is your first and most important step, other than assuring you know how to select healthy chicks, and how to keep them healthy.

This book is full of helpful information, I wish I had read this BEFORE I got my chickens. Anne Kuo covers everything from A to Z about raising chicken with a lovely sense of humor. This is a book I will keep handy to refer back to. If you are thinking about raising chickens, please read this book first. Thank you Callisto Media via NetGalley for the free copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

If I ever were to write a chicken book, this would be it.

Like the author, I too thought that I would be able to get a coop before my soft little baby flufball chicks would grow up into coop-ready hens. Like her, I too was wrong.

I kept my chickens in the garage until i got a coop. The chickens didn't seem to mind to much, but it was hard not being able to use the garage while they were in there.

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I also like her sense of humor, telling people that if they want chicken poop that it Bring your own bag.

The author goes into much of the things that beginning chicken people need to know, such as how to feed them, the hazards of trying to hatch your own, and what to do about things that make chickens sick. She even goes into roosters, although unless you live in the country, and have no close neighbors, as I do, you probably will not be able to keep roosters.

This is a good beginning book. Of course, as a beginning book, it rather skims the surface, but this would be a good one to have and read before even thinking of bringing any chickens home. Highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens is a tutorial guide for new/potential flock owners by Anne Kuo. Released 21st May 2019 by Rockridge Press, it's 236 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a really appealing book aimed at the newbie. The author is clearly experienced and fond of her chickens. I've read a lot of beginner books which carefully avoid the negative aspects of keeping a home flock. I was impressed to see the author did not sugar coat those potentially frustrating and discouraging occurrences. It's better to be aware and prepared to protect your garden plants from your chickens (and your chickens from potential harm as well).

The book is laid out sensibly and divided into two main parts: Before and After one acquires chickens. The preparatory(before chickens) sections include why and how-to tutorials, including a pretty spiffy DIY coop plan. The husbandry (after delivery) sections cover aspects of keeping such as raising chicks, feeding, eggs, behavior, and health.

The ebook version has a handy interactive table of contents and hyperlinked extensive references at the end sorted by chapter. There's also a short alphabetical glossary.

Worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. This title is available in the KU subscription.

I adore the humor and lighthearted tone of the author's writing. The science and husbandry aspects are sound, but she has such an accessible and whimsical tone that it elevates the whole book for me. (She calls eggs 'butt nuggets' which still slays me).

No single book is the absolute undisputed chicken bible. This one covers all the main aspects and I couldn't find any particular deficiencies except for possibly the lack of photographs (there aren't any). The tutorial diagrams for coop construction are well drawn and perfectly understandable. It would be a good, upbeat general primer for people considering adding chickens to their home setups, as well as a good guide to get new chicken wranglers through their first fraught months as owners.

Five stars.

There was so much info in this book about raising chickens. I still feel like I need someone to "show" me what to do if I were ever to get any chickens. My sister is also thinking about getting chickens also, but she has no idea of all the steps she needs to do in order to take care of a healthy flock! This book is truly an eye opener and I did love some of the humor involved as well.