Author: Danovich, Tove

Publisher: Agate Publishing, 2023

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book but I think the subtitle is an accurate synopsis on this book on chickens: an inside look into backyard chickens and concerning the people who love them. Divided into three sections: “Chickens At Home”, “Chickens on Display”, and “Chickens in the Wild”, Danovich discusses chickens and their behavior with facts and history and interviews with people.

In “Chickens At Home,” Danovich goes into detail with the most popular form of getting chicks and that is through the United States Post Office delivery. She even visits a farm that raises these chicks to sell and their fulfillment of the orders. For some reading about the process, it may make you queasy. For me, the realism of the process gave me something to think long and hard about. Her personal experience with chickens is the backbone of this section from raising them to observations with their behavior.

In “Chickens on Display,” Danovich visits a poultry show and this is where the chicken fanatics are explored. There are different types of heirloom to standard chickens and methods of breeding and hatching from traditional to modern. One of the breeders known for raising award-winning chickens is young children’s author, Jan Brett. Other clubs such as the 4-H fosters children to compete, take care of, and present their chickens. Included in this section is how people have trained their chickens.

In the final section, “Chickens in the Wild,” Danovich explores the behavior of wild chickens found iIn Fitzgerald, Georgia, and Ybor City, Florida, where the chickens part tame and part feral, freely roost up in the trees. The author adopts mature cage-raised chickens and observes and compares the behavior of these birds to the free ranging chickens she adopted from birth.

As someone who has never raised chickens or have an inclination to do so, I felt this book was a great way to get your feet wet. While it doesn’t give you the minute details to raise chickens, it does describe in ways you will have to deal with chickens that you may not have thought about. This book was an absolute pleasure to read, from the inclusion of the unique historical tales about chickens to the thought-provoking issues surrounding the most humane way to keep chickens.