The Chicken Handbook covers everything you need to know about the satisfying and rewarding hobby of keeping poultry: from choosing your breed and preparing your chicken house to establishing your flock and reaping the benefits of fresh produce. This indispensable guide offers the advice you need to ensure that your birds stay happy, healthy, and thriving. If you take the plunge you will be able to impress your friends and family with truly organic eggs. All it will take is a few birds and some feed. Research suggests poultry allowed to roam free with access to grass, lay eggs that are higher in Omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin E, while also being lower in cholesterol than any sold in retail stores. These are much healthier for you and are very beneficial to your skin and hair. Once you have sat down to freshly laid eggs for breakfast, you will never again be tempted to reach for that carton on the supermarket shelf. Home-laid eggs are full of flavor because they have not been sitting around for days, or even weeks, waiting for delivery. There is even a difference in the color of the yolks-a healthy orange instead of that washed-out yellow we are used to. Unlike other pets, poultry do not need to be walked, brushed or fed twice a day. Essentially, all the poultry keeper needs to do is gather the eggs daily, fill the birds’ food and water containers, and change their bedding about once a month. It couldn’t be easier, and this book shows you how.