Product Details
Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: Reflections on Raising Chickens

Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: Reflections on Raising Chickens
By Martin Gurdon

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Product Description

James Herriot meets Bill Bryson in this hilarious account of one man's relationship with his chickens.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #165813 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-11-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 160 pages

Features

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
In this warmly funny paean to pet chickens, Gurdon chronicles life with a garden flock of hens. As a boy he had kept pet chickens, but they had mostly been worn-out hens culled from the local factory farm. When he and his wife decided to start their suburban flock, a visit to a local breeder resulted in a potpourri of hens in various sizes, colors, and personalities. The author was immediately inducted into the more brutal side of hen keeping when his new girls began to peck and terrorize each other as they sorted out their hierarchy--the classic "pecking order" of psychology. What follows is a wryly amusing memoir of the hens as the author tries to prevent escapes, rescues other lost chickens, teaches his hens to sit on his lap (food is a powerful inducer), and discovers how to do physiotherapy on a lame hen. Illustrated with line drawings, Gurdon's tales of hens will be popular among readers who love true animal stories in the James Herriot vein. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A lovingly told romp through the adventures of an amateur chicken keeper and his flock." -The Guardian

" A real hoot . . . a book on keeping chickens in the town and the country, but also a humorous look at the bird and its idiosyncrasies." -The Bookseller


"In this warmly funny paean to pet chickens, Gurdon chronicles life with a garden flock of chickens... Gurdon's tales of hens will be popular among readers who love true animal stories in the James Herriot vein."--Booklist

From the Back Cover

Watch out, poultry best-seller list: This hilarious account of a rookie poultry-owner's experience raising birds in his backyard is the first "chicken memoir" of its kind. Owning chickens is fast becoming the latest in metropolitan chic-and if you can't own them, you'll still want to read about them. Move over, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt (both rumored to raise chickens), Martin Gurdon is the new celebrity chicken owner.
Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance follows the Gurdon family through the ups and downs of this wonderful hobby. In addition to providing eggs, the hens offer distractions from everyday life-BB has terrific telephone etiquette; the spirited but weak Yvette requires Gurdon to act as a personal trainer; and Wimpy is soon renamed Psycho as she's allowed to brood three of her eggs. The book chronicles the daily life of a chicken, including dust baths, brutal pecking order rituals, gender bending encounters, and, for its owner, the possibility of huge vet bills.
The relationship between bird and human is by turns heartwarming and bewildering, but always entertaining. Add "informative" to the list, and you could be describing this very book. In fact, you might even learn a thing or two about raising chickens in Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance.

Customer Reviews

Such an accurate portrayal of raising chickens5
I absolutely loved this book. It is an account of both the funny moments and the challenging moments of raising poultry. There are sad times and glad times, and they all make you remember your own personal experiences if you have chickens. If you don't, I would think you would want them after hearing the stories. In addition, there are some knowledgeable tips for raising them and for their care. Wonderful account of having chickens! I wished the book had a sequel to it. Kat - Kentucky

good story - not enough info3
I did enjoy the story aspect of this book, but I was dissapointed by the lack of information. Although the information it provided was helpful, I was looking for more. It did make me laugh and (almost) cry. I think it is a perfect book to introduce those that are thinking about raising chickens. If you are looking for only information on the matter, then this is not the book for you. Also, I am not really into British humor, so that threw me off a bit too. Warning, there are a few swears in the book for those who don't like that kind of stuff.

Great story, especially for those who don't own chickens5
I checked this book out at the local library and after several bellyaching laughs, I decided I had to add it to my collection! Needless to say, it did not stay in my collection long since it was borrowed several times and kept by my MIL (none of whom own chickens). The author has such a funny way to "get into the mind of a chicken".

This book is not a handbook or how-to text but, you will definitely learn from his rather "twisted" experiences. If you enjoy easy-to-read corky real-life novels, then this is a book for you.