This book was so funny and relatable as someone who has grown up with chickens! At first I thought it was a lot of common sense and not that helpful for someone who has chickens already, but the chapters further into the book were actually quite interesting with studies and facts about chicken behavior and biology. It was also funny reading the author's translation of the sounds chickens make. It definitely gave me a new appreciation for my chickens and will make me pay closer attention to what they are trying to say!

As a chicken mama, and someone who wanted to own more breeds and really learn more about what helps them all thrive and life their fullest lives.

This book was truly so helpful, insightful and great! I will be purchasing it.

This was such a cute book to read. I have chickens and they all have names and I feel like I know them. After so long you learn their personalities and what they will do. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC and sneak peek! It provided fun insight into my chickens minds.

Backyard chicken keepers delight in learning all they can about their beloved flocks. Best-selling author and backyard chicken keeper Melissa Caughey shares her years of experience with and research about our feathered friends with this entertaining and informative exploration of what chickens think and feel. From chick days to the golden stage of "henopause," Caughey offers insights into the range of emotions that chickens can express, their unexpected intelligence, different personality types, and the complexities of flock dynamics.

Such a helpful book! I loved the pictures, the content. Everything. I feel like this will be a good resource guide for me and my flock.

A fantastic book with lots of funny anecdotes and interesting facts. My husband and I sat and made all the different noises and compared them to what our chickens say and it was spot on! Just hope the neighbors didn't hear us. Beautiful photos, very insightful and cleverly written as well. Highly recommend to anyone knows what chicken math is.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free preview of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

That was such a fun and interesting read.
I myself own 9 chickens. And just like with any other animal I can name each. The book describes it just perfectly. Everyone has a different personalty. They trust the people they know.
It was well written and I couldn't put it down and read IT in one sitting.

Such a cute & well put together read. As a chicken owner myself, it was nice to read familiar thoughts and facts. The photos are wonderful. The illustrations are tasteful. Chickens are such fun creatures to have around.

Previously, there is very little that I could tell you about chickens.

After reading this delightful book, I will look upon them and listen to them with a whole new interest.

A short read but full of fascinating facts, a little humour and some absolutely gorgeous pictures.

This was so interesting, I actually wanted the book to be a little longer.

First off, I have to say that I absolutely loved this short book. It was spot on in every way. I have a flock of 38 (including 12 new surprise babies I found in the barn with Miss Elvira a couple of weeks ago!) Chicken math is real, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Luckily, we have plenty of room for them. But I was absolutely delighted to see all the intricacies of chicken temperaments and personalities addressed. It is true, they are all very different little creatures. And I was so excited to see the mention of the Ayam Cemani breed. Half of my flock are Ayam crosses.

And talking about personality, different every one of them. Most of my “kids” run out to me every morning to get their treats and feed, including the roosters! One of my hens, my seven-year-old Americauna El Pollo Loco screams at me whenever she sees me. I’m quite sure she is not saying nice things. But then there’s Rocky, who I saved from being attacked by her mother as she was hatching. Every time she sees me, she insists on sitting in my lap. Some of them prefer to eat out of my hand and some just want me to throw their scratch at my feet. But the coolest thing about them is that they do remember things. Every single chicken I’ve saved from some sickness like sour crop or vitamin deficiency or even an attack remembers the hands on care that I’ve given them. When before they might have been skittish with me, they are now trusting and follow me around. They’ve associated me with safety and health. They really are like feathered dogs. Everyone I know calls me the Crazy Chicken Lady, and maybe that’s true. But these little guys and gals truly do bring me happiness. It’s nice to see a book address how awesome they are!

Huge thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

Chicken raisers will adore this unique book that shares everything you'd want to about how the creatures think, what they feel, and how they interact in flocks. Fascinating!

I will preface my review in saying that I am a chicken-lover. I started with 6 "hens" - one ended up being a rooster - and chicken-math has brought me to a current total of 14. When I saw the quirky chicken faces on the cover of How to Read a Chicken's Mind I was instantly intrigued and knew it belonged on my bookshelf!

What a delight to read! Melissa Caughey presents us with a full-color exploration of our favorite furry friends. She gives us basic history and anatomy lessons, explaining how chickens are the last living dinosaurs that originated from jungle-fowl. We are able to learn many fun things about how they communicate and how we, as people, can develop loving and lasting relationships with chickens.

I love reading about the mannerisms of chickens because although they each have distinct personalities, they also share many characteristics. This book is a great introduction to chickens and is an easy read. There are resources at the end for further reading, which is a nice supplement to this quick read. One critique I have is I wish there were more personal stories, as I love reading about all the fun adventures we have as chicken owners.

Thank you to NetGalley, Storey Publishing, Storey Publishing, LLC, and the author Melissa Caughey for an ARC of How to Read a Chicken's Mind in exchange for an honest review!

I have never owned a chicken, but I have been a lifelong lover of animals. This book ... this book is a delight. It's charming, funny, and perfect (in my opinion) for younger, and evil adult animal lovers. It goes over some of the basics, like the various calls, the various flock roles, and behaviors, as well as stories and trivia that were well written and made me want to own a chicken or three.

Honestly, the fact that they can use teamwork to get into a garden, show the ability to delay instant gratification -- bypassing one available treat for another, more favored one not yet present -- and make friendships both with other chickens and their humans is all just impressive.

The writing was a highlight. Conversational, educational without ever talking down, and easily graspable. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

I love chickens: I have a veritable rainbow of ceramic ones in my kitchen, a growing collection of chicken books, and generally find them such interesting wee birds… so, when I saw this on NetGalley, I had to check it out! 🐔

This is a beautifully presented book with wonderful pictures, a great layout, and a plain language writing style that combines lite science with the author’s experience and hypotheses.

The science is a bit thin on the ground for what readers might expect from a nature book. The book does cover some history, anatomy, social and community structures, but it’s all quite surface level. For the research quoted, I think the book would have benefited from a more comprehensive bibliography (maybe with footnotes?) so readers could explore and dive deeper.

The author’s experience and stories were a delight to read! I almost wish Caughey had focused on these stories rather than wandering into the anthropomorphization of chickens in the personality and traits section, the chicken souls section, and some of the circumstantial evidence presented as fact.

Ultimately, this is a fast read and a good introduction to chickens and the joy that they can bring to those who steward their care. Caughey’s personal anecdotes are wonderful and her love of these magnificent birds shines though in the book! If you’re looking for a more in-depth dive into chicken communication, social structures, and research into chicken’s emotions, you might not take as much away from this as a beginner.

Content warning: some of the experiments covered and detail about the treatment of exploited chickens on factory farms make for some difficult reading.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thank you so much, Storey Publishing!