CHICKENS

The essential guide to choosing and keeping happy, healthy hens

by Suzie Baldwin

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New softcover book, 144 pages. Published 2012

Keeping chickens has never been more popular, not least because of the attraction of having fresh eggs every day. But how do you choose between the 150 varieties of domestic hen available, and once you have decided, how many do you buy, how do you transport them home and how to you house them? What do you do when they stop laying or become unwell, and what happens when you want to go away? Suzie Baldwin, who has more than 20 years' experience of keeping chickens, answers these and every other frequently-asked question, including:

• whether to buy chicks or laying hens
• how to tell if you're buying a healthy chicken
• how to ensure she stays that way
• how many chickens you should keep
• what kind of coop is best
• whether you need to have a rooster
• whether chooks ever fly away
• how quickly they will start laying
• how to prevent them being attacked by foxes

A comprehensive, reassuring guide for both the beginner and more experienced chicken owner alike, Chickens: The essential guide to choosing and keeping happy, healthy hens is packed with tips, strategies and advice that will give you the confidence to look after your hens and avoid common problems, leaving you free to enjoy your girls - and your eggs!

Chapters include:

• Foreword by Joely Richardson
• Why keep chickens
• Houring, equipment and feed
• Choosing your chickens, getting them home, settling them in and how to house them
• Daily care - how often to feed your hens plus what to do when you go away
• Behaviour - what's normal, and how to deal with any problems
• Eggs - how many you can expect and how long they will lay
• Health and wellbeing - how to treat them when they are unwell
• Glossary, index and resources

About the author

Suzie Baldwin was born and brought up in deepest Devon, where from an early age she cared for a menagerie of animals. In 2014, Suzie bought her own smallholding in Surrey, where she runs her new chicken breeding business, Hollywater Hens, as well as raising a variety of livestock.

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Chickens: The essential guide to choosing and keeping happy, healthy hens by Suzie Baldwin