At this point I have only two suggestions regarding raising chickens: don’t build a grandiose chicken house like we did and don’t buy Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens.

Regarding chicken housing, I was unfortunately already committed to building the chicken sedan when I discovered Robert Plamodon’s site. If only I had found decent, thrifty, practical advice like that sooner! In particular, his article on chicken housing advocates simple open-air housing, which is supported by the old reprinted book he sells, but also by another book from the same era that I read for free on Google. All future chicken structures (such as a range house for meat birds) will follow his advice.

Regarding the book, I always hear good things about Storey’s guides, but we were really unimpressed with this one. It’s terribly organized, full of excessive advice no chicken raiser actually does (clean water founts daily with bleach?), and devoid of important concepts (deep liter usage). I’ve heard better things about Storey’s Guide to Raising Poultry, but I’ve yet to browse others at the library or a bookstore to look for a replacement. I plan to e-bay our current book and look for a new one starting with the ones suggested by Premier.