Backyard Poultry: Naturally by Alanna Moore.

BackyardPoultry: Naturally by Alanna Moore. Paperback book published by Bolwarrah Press 1998, 153 pages with black and white photographs and some black and white illustrations and colour photographs.

What’s the difference between a Frizzle and a Fav? a Pekin and a Polish? a Welsumner and a Wyandotte? How do you successfully determine the sex of day-old chickens? What natural products can be used to treat lice infestation? And what should you do if a broody hen won’t get off the nest to feed? Backyard Poultry — Naturally answers all these questions and more. From housing to feeding, from selection to breeding, from pets to production, and from the best lookers to the best layers, the book covers everything the backyard farmer needs to know about poultry husbandry including preventative and curative herbal medicines and homeopathics. Backyard Poultry — Naturally is an excellent resource. It is entertaining and informative, and will appeal to amateur and avid poultry farmers alike.

It's been a while since I thought of writing about chickens or chicken books. I think my decision to go down this path has to do with some very rare poultry books I saw at the Rare Book Fair at Melbourne University last weekend. There were a few other choice items from the fair that have stuck in my mind and a few of them even tempted this book seller to crack open his wallet (… I didn't...), but the truth is that I don't have any rare books on Mongolia and the Great Game, or books about Pop Art with signed ink stamped illustrations ($12,500) to write about, so it's a chicken book that will have to do.

There's always a demand for a good book about our feathered friends... even if they are friends that some of us eat. A bit like bee keeping, many buyers/collectors want that rare item that no one has seen since the Colonel took fried chicken to a whole new dimension. Then there are those other buyers who want to know the basics, which is where a book like this one steps in. Most of us don't know the difference between a Frizzle and a Fav and most of us want the best layers possible. A good book is a good beginning to finding the answer to these and all those other tricky chicken questions that we all might have.

As some of you might know from my past blog posts, I was involved in a bricks and mortar retail book shop here in Clunes as well as selling through my on line book selling empire(?). Chicken books were something that I was always on the look out for, as I found out pretty quickly that this is a subject that sold to those casual chicken owning book buyers who happened to stumble upon the shop. They didn't sell as quickly as bee keeping books, but chicken books did tick over. I'm no longer in the shop... it's a long story, which has a lot to do with a distinct lack of cooperation from others... so I no longer have any direct contact between myself and chicken enthusiasts. Despite this, chicken books will still be on the menu here at Huc & Gabet... as well as bee books... and any rare signed Pop Art books that I might find.

Click here for my ebay listing of this book.