The Best Advice n Raising Chickens, Turkeys, Waterfowl, and Game Birds

Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry is an invaluable resource for everyone who raises poultry. It contains the most comprehensive and current information available on:

- Selecting birds for meat

Housing and equipment

Home processing of eggs and poultry

Flock health

Brooding and rearing

"Delivers what the title promises. A good value." (Yankee Magazine)

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Product Description

For 17 years readers have turned to Storey Books for advice on raising animals. Our Modern Way series of six books has sold more than 1,000,000 copies. In an effort to provide readers with the best how-to animal books on the market we are completely updating all six Modern Way titles and re-introducing them as part of our Guide to Raising series.

Written by experts, these guides give novice and experienced livestock farmers all they need to know to successfully keep and profit from animals. Each book includes information on selection, housing, space requirements, breeding and birthing techniques, feeding, behavior, and health concerns and remedies for illness. The books also address the business of raising animals - processing meat, milk, eggs, and more. The authors were chosen not only for their expertise but also for their ability to explain the ins and outs of animal husbandry in an inviting and authoritative manner. Whether readers are ready to start an entire herd or flock or are considering purchasing their first animal, Storey's Guide to Raising series offers vital information; each book is an indispensable reference.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109868 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781580172639
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover
The Best Advice n Raising Chickens, Turkeys, Waterfowl, and Game Birds

Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry is an invaluable resource for everyone who raises poultry. It contains the most comprehensive and current information available on: -

Selecting birds for meat
Housing and equipment
Home processing of eggs and poultry
Flock health
Brooding and rearing

"Delivers what the title promises. A good value." (Yankee Magazine)

About the Author
During author Leonard S. Mercia's career as University of Vermont (UVM) Extension Poultryman, he wrote many Extension Service publications for small-scale poultry raising. He was professor of animal and dairy science at UVM for about 30 years. Following his retirement, the Vermont native toured Kenya, Uganda, and Honduras as a poultry consultant. He has also assisted adult and youth groups interested in poultry projects. He has written Storey's Raising Poultry the Modern Way, Raising Your Own Turkeys, Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry and Storey's Guide to Raising Turkeys and edits The Vermont Poultry Industry Newsletter. Leonard lives in Shelburne, Vermont, with his wife Shirley.

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Customer Reviews

If you only get ONE book for your poultry Library, THIS ONE
I picked this up at the public library to skim over and take back but after having it for just one week, I must have my own copy. The wonderful knowledge that is presented in easy to understand directions from all aspects of poultry. The nice part is they have instructions how to build most any poultry equipment you might need and this would be great for anyone, especially home schoolers.
I am getting my copy.

The book is a no-nonsense, fact-filled resource.
I have a homestead in Peru (near Cusco / Machu Picchu). I wanted to raise my own meat; thus I bought a dozen chicks. As life dictates they grew and the day came for eating. I gave the first chicken to my housekeeper to kill and clean. She smothered the poor bird by holding its beak closed and plugging the nostrils. The suffocation process took about two struggling minutes. Not a good way to kill a bird, I thought. The second chicken was given to my hired hand, and he killed the bird by stretching its neck three times. Yes, a better method, but really, what do the professionals recommend? Thus, I initially bought "Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry", to find the most humane way to kill poultry.

The book is a no-nonsense, fact-filled resource. Written for those who are serious about raising poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, game birds and other poultry). Written by a professional poultryman, the book covers nutrition, disease, immunity, housing, breeding and management in a comprehensive manner.

The writing is clear, terse and complete. The diagrams and drawings are good. The book has a superb index, along with a good glossary, a list of associations, an appendix that gives you sources of supplies and equipment, and much more.

The descriptions of the breeds of poultry could be better. The one paragraph given to various breeds is inadequate for those who are unfamiliar with breeds (Wyandottes, Australorps, Araucans etc.). The feed section is bias towards commercially packaged feeds, and gives little to no information on homemade mashes. In Peru, we must make our own mash, or go without.

All-in-all, Storey's Guide it is a lot more book than I initially needed. But, after reading through the book, I was both impressed and intrigued enough to consider raising other types of poultry. Hum, maybe turkeys are next. I did use Mercia's recommended method for killing chickens (sever the jugular and insert knife for debraining) and must confess that killing a chicken, regardless of the methodology, is not my preferred hobby. Strongly Recommended

Too broad a scope to be useful to anyone
I checked this book out from the library because I wanted more information on raising poultry other than ducks and chickens. I'd already read, and loved, both Gail Damerow's "Raising Chickens," and Dave Holderread's "Raising the Home Duck Flock." My intentions are to have a laying flock and raise enough broilers to feed just my family, and to do so with free-range, organic methods. I'm interested in trying to raise other types of poultry for meat as well. I left reading this book with the feeling that it was strongly geared towards someone who would like to raise hundreds of birds as a business and the author leaned strongly towards raising birds in confinement. In other words, with one book dedicated to ALL poultry, and the author biased towards rearing in confinement, there was little information I, personally, could use.

When I did come to the chapters on turkeys and game birds, the info was scarce. The game bird chapter is only 22 pages long, with four of those pages being devoted to listing the different breeds or varieties of Guineas, Pheasants, Partridges and Quail and 5 1/2 other pages devoted to line drawings of the birds, and housing ideas and an entire page describing step by step the process of building one of the pens! The chapters devoted to turkeys and waterfowl are much the same. He does make an important note at the beginning of the game bird chapter that anyone interested in raising game birds should do more "homework" before starting a flock. I will, in a book dedicated to a specific type of bird.

If you are that someone the book is geared toward as I described above, you still won't find enough information here. To all, don't waste your money buying this book. Check it out from the library if your really do want to take a look, but I think you'll find that if you're just starting out with poultry (like me) that you'll need an entire book, or more, dedicated to each type.