My Favorite Poultry Books - 2021

You may have noticed that this year’s book reviews are for poultry books. This year was the year that I delved into ducks. As a duck beginner, I spent a lot of time reading everything I could find on ducks. I’ve included some reviews of a few of the duck-related books that I read here. And that required a broader title. It’s not just about chickens anymore. I don’t think the Hipster Hens will mind.

Brood
Jackie Polzin
Doubleday
2021

The four chickens in Jackie Polzin’s first novel, “Brood” have names. Gam Gam, Miss Hennepin County, Darkness, and Gloria live in a coop, a converted garden shed, in a Minneapolis backyard. The novel’s narrator, the hens’ owner, provides an abundance of information about the lives of these four hens in each short chapter, and also tells us of her own life. But surprisingly, she never mentions her own name. It is a little unsettling for her to remain anonymous when we learn so many intimate details about her life. It’s a bit like having her as a seatmate on a plane—you converse, the flight ends, she leaves, you never see her again, and yet you remember her story.

The unnamed narrator describes her trip to a farm with her husband when she first acquires her hens. Both husband and wife are innocent of any real knowledge of chickens or their care. They’ve decided that they want at least one hen with “fun-colored eggs.” But the farm woman seems brusque and intimidating, so they choose their hens randomly.

“’That one seems healthy,’ I said pointing to the chicken we named Gam Gam. I knew nothing of a chicken’s health or the signs…” Her husband finally asks how to tell the color of a chicken’s eggs. “Look at the ears,” the woman tells him. And in the car on the drive home, they admit to each other that they didn’t know that chickens had ears.

Since chickens are whimsical creatures, it is not at all surprising that this novel contains a certain amount of whimsy.  But, as the story progresses, we gradually become aware of the more sober undercurrents of the narrator’s life. The word “brood” has a variety of meanings. It can refer to offspring, as in “a brood of chicks” or “a brood of children.” It also describes the action of a mother hen as she sits on her eggs for three weeks and waits for them to hatch.

Then, there is that situation when a hen obsessively sits in her empty nest even though her eggs have been taken from her daily. Day after day she sits on nothing, staring blankly, while waiting for her nonexistent eggs to hatch. It is from hens like this that we have derived another meaning for the word. To brood, is to contemplate obsessively about unhappy things.

As I read this novel, I gradually became aware of how each of these definitions apply to the story and how aptly the book is titled. By the end of the book, I was astonished at how attached I’d become to the narrator. If she were a stranger telling me this story on a plane, by the end of the flight I would feel so invested in her life that I’d want to reach out and offer words of support. I’d like to tell her how much hope I had that her life will be okay. I’d like to know what happens next. And I’d like to know her name.

(Read my full review of Brood in Farmer-ish.)

Farmer-ish Print Annual 2021
Edited by Crystal Sands
Farmer-ish Journal
2021

The digital publication Farmer-ish claims to be a “journal dedicated to all things farmer.” I know about journals dedicated to farming. They were scattered throughout my childhood home—the farmhouse where I grew up. But there’s a significant difference between Farmer-ish and those farm magazines of my childhood. Those old farm magazines were about the business of farming. Farmer-ish is about the art of farming. The art of sustaining ourselves from the earth. The art of sustaining the earth that sustains us. And the awareness of that cycle of sustenance.

In the first year of publication, Crystal Sands, the Farmer-ish editor, brought together a host of writers with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Those writers shared essays, how-to’s, poems, book reviews, and recipes. Their wide-ranging topics included a meditation on orb weavers, a heartbreaking recounting of the death of a just-hatched chick, a tutorial on mushroom watercolors, a child’s-eye description of the birthing of a calf, and reflections of a newbie chicken keeper.

And now, Sands has gleaned material from that first year of Farmer-ish and published it in a book: The 2021 Farmer-ish Print Annual! If you enjoy gardening, exploring the natural world, cooking, making, keeping domestic animals, or if you aspire to do any of those things, this book is for you. You definitely don’t have to be a farmer to love this book, you just need to be…well…farmerish.

Barnyard in Your Backyard
A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle
Edited by Gail Damerow
Storey Publishing
2002

This book’s title may create false expectations.  Can you really have a functional barnyard in your backyard?  If your local ordinances allow them, chickens and rabbits are practical backyard choices.  But could there be cows in the backyard of a suburban subdivision?  I can’t see how that could ever happen. 

But maybe you've just moved onto a few acres. Maybe you're considering getting some animals. And maybe you would like a primer on a variety of animals to help you decide which would be best for your circumstances and preferences. If that's you, then this is your perfect book.

Each animal named in the subtitle gets its own chapter.  And each chapter covers the animal’s housing, space and feed requirements, potential health issues, and other care needs. The text is readable and jargon-free and is accompanied by illustrations, charts, a robust glossary, a list of recommended reading, and a state-by state list of resources. Fitting all that information on seven different farm animals into just over 400 pages is an impressive feat. A book covering all those animals obviously can’t be as in-depth as a book dedicated to just one animal.  But Barnyard in Your Backyard is a great jumping-off book for you if you’re just getting started and trying to decide what sort of animals should be living in your barn.

Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks
Dave Holderread
Storey Publishing
2011 (2nd edition)

As a new duck owner, I’ve paged through a lot of books about ducks this year. This book was one of my favorites.

Dave Holderread, now in his late sixties, has raised ducks since he won two ducklings in a school contest in third grade. As you can imagine, he knows about ducks. For anybody in the duck-keeping community, Holderread, is the go-to guy for anything related to raising domestic waterfowl. And most consider Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks the duck-raiser’s bible.

What this book gets right: Information! This book walks the duck-raising newbie through rearing ducklings, duck housing, swimming water, drinking water, feed and nutrition, and diseases. And a bazillion other topics. The information in the book’s 356 pages is all-encompassing.

Where this book falls down: Organization. As a duck raising newbie, my duck experience began with ducklings. So, that’s what I was most anxious to learn about when I picked up this book. Information on ducklings doesn’t show up in this book until the 13th chapter. The 14th chapter contains practical information about housing and feeding adult ducks. But before I could get to the 13th and 14th chapters, I had to page through twelve chapters. Those first twelve chapters: Many chapters on duck breeds. And a chapter containing interesting but esoteric information on duck colors. All that is good and useful information, but perhaps is better suited for later chapters - or an appendix.

Holderread has recently retired from duck raising/breeding. I wish him well. I also hope that he continues to write in his retirement. Keeping ducks on acreages and hobby farms continues to increase in popularity - so the world needs Holderread’s vast store of knowledge on all things duck. Maybe he would consider working on a new edition of this book, given that the current edition is now ten years old. And some colored pictures and a bit of reorganization would improve any new edition of this already outstanding book.

But even if a new edition never happens, you should include Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks in your library. And if you’re like me, you’ll keep Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks close at hand and thumb through it regularly.

Choosing and Keeping Ducks and Geese
Liz Wright
TFH Publications
2008

This book quickly became a favorite as I perused duck books in preparation for my journey into duck keeping.

Liz Wright is the editor of Smallholder Magazine. (“Smallholding” is the British term for what we Americans call hobby farms or acreages.) Besides this book, she has authored books on sustainable living, smallholding, horses, chickens and similar topics.

This information-rich 208-page book gets right down to business. After a few introductory pleasantries, it jumps right into what a beginning duck owner needs to do. First, acquiring equipment, and then getting the ducks or geese. Section topics that follow include housing, safety from predators, water, daily care, feed, and eggs. Later chapters include information on diseases and showing poultry. Finally, the last half of the book is a breed directory, illustrated with large colored photographs.

I keep Choosing and Keeping Ducks and Geese right next to Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks on my desk. Since I’m a beginner, it’s good to have the expertise of both of these books close at hand for quick reference.

My Chickens Lay Eggs
Sherry Crelin
Friesen Press
2018

Well, yeah.  My chickens do lay eggs.  Who doesn’t know that?  Actually, a lot of people either don’t know it, or don’t spend much time thinking about it.  Many of those people are kids.  Their eggs come from the grocery store, and their chicken comes from the same store, in a different aisle. 

Here to educate those kids is Jenny.  She is four and a half years old and her eggs don’t come from the grocery store anymore, because now her family has chickens in their backyard! 

Jenny walks us through the whole story.  In the spring they got three chicks and named them Petunia, Henny, and Penny.  While the babies were growing up inside the house, Jenny and her dad built a coop in the backyard, and that’s where the three chickens eventually went to live.

Jenny shows us around the coop and explains all about the roost, the nest boxes, the run, the feeder and the water fount.  And finally, Jenny sits at the table and eats her fresh, delicious, special eggs while watching Petunia, Henny, and Penny through the window.

This is a simple story, but it is a perfect story to start kids thinking about where their food comes from!

Chickens to the Rescue
John Himmelman
Henry Holt and Company
2006

We all experience small problems that we wish would just go away or that somebody else could solve for us. For Farmer Greenstalk and his family, that wish has come true, thanks to an amazing flock of problem-solving chickens. Farmer Greenstalk drops his watch down the well. Mrs. Greenstalk is too tired to make dinner. The dog eats Jeffrey Greenstalk’s homework. Ernie, the miscreant duck absconds with the family pickup truck. And then these amazing birds spring into action and make things right. All in an awe-inspiring flurry of comedic energy.

John Himmelman's delightful illustrations amp up the silliness of this tale and are filled with the sort of detail that will keep kids poring over each page.

Oh, if I could only teach my chickens to be such incredible problem solvers!  Chickens to the rescue!

Chicks and Salsa
Aaron Reynolds
Illustrated by Paulette Bogan
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
2005

The problem: The chickens on the Nuthatcher farm are tired of the monotony of chicken feed day in and day out. The rooster solves this dilemma when he sees a television cooking show through the farmhouse window. Salsa! All the ingredients are right there in the garden!

The chickens steal into the garden in the dead of night and create a delicious feast of chips and salsa!  And create a precedent.  Before you know it, the ducks are raiding the garden and producing and feasting on guacamole.  Next, the pigs conduct their own garden raid so they can make and consume nachos. 

The barnyard animals are on a slippery slope!  Where can it all lead?  Well, it all leads to this charming and entertaining kid’s book! Oh!  Recipes are included!