Tove Danovich has written a heartfelt, personal account of her journey through process of becoming a backyard chicken owner.. But woven into that account is some excellent reporting: Behind the scenes at a chick hatchery, an Ohio poultry show, 4-H, chicken therapy, a Minnesota chicken rescue. Chicken-themed topics that I’ve never seen in print before. Under the Henfluence is, in my estimation, the best new chicken-themed book this year.

Here’s my yearly assemblage of chicken-themed books ! This year I’ve focused entirely on fiction. As you will see, there are some great chicken stories out there!

My favorite 2021 poultry reads!

A beautifully written novel about nurturing and love and sadness and loss…and chickens.

Love, death and chickens.

I don’t know how you spent 2020, but more than likely it was pretty much like the way I spent it—lots of time at home. I’m fortunate to have my chickens to occupy my time. There’s absolutely no hardship in spending lots of time with the Hipster Hens. I also have no problem with the time I spend reading books. Of course, books with chicken themes or at least a chicken connection keep finding their way into my hands. Here are my favorite chicken reads from the past year.

If you’re looking for a book to enjoy and learn from, here’s one— a life well lived contained in a well written book. What more could you want? Oh…chickens? You want to read about chickens? Well, bingo.

Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini, creators of the lush book of chicken photographs, “Chick!en,” have a new book!  “Chicken in Love” is every bit as beautiful as the earlier book, and it’s all about love!

I like chickens.  I also like books a lot.  Unsurprisingly, I think chicken books are pretty great—the perfect marriage of two of my favorite things.  Here are some thumbnail reviews of a few of my favorite chicken books.  Full reviews of many of these books can be found elsewhere on my blog.

Leslie Crawford has ably imagined and narrated this story of Gwen’s great adventure, and Sonja Stangl’s illustrations have perfectly captured the whimsy inherent in all things chicken.  Together they show children, and adults that “happily ever after” is a real thing—and making it happen can be as simple as letting chickens live like chickens.

Author, humorist, and radio-show host Michael Perry tells us the story of his first year in an old house on a Wisconsin acreage with his new wife and daughter.  It is a tale of lurching forward with pigs and chickens and gardening and hay-making and wood splitting and don’t forget building a chicken coop, and of course a home birth—all while maintaining a full-time career.  And other impracticalities.  Nonfiction.  Really.