Title: Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to create a beautiful, Chicken-Friendly YardAuthor: Jessi BloomPublisher: Timber PressISBN: 978-1604692372Pages: 224★★★★★

Synopsis:

(Taken from Amazon.com) Many gardeners fear chickens will peck away at their landscape, and chicken lovers often shy away from gardening for the same reason. But you can keep chickens and have a beautiful garden, too! Fresh eggs aren’t the only benefit — chickens can actually help your garden grow and thrive, even as your garden does the same for your chickens.

In this essential handbook, award-winning garden designer Jessi Bloom covers everything a gardener needs to know, including chicken-keeping basics, simple garden plans to get you started, tips on attractive fencing options, the best plants and plants to avoid, and step-by-step instructions for getting your chicken garden up and running.

For anyone who wants a fabulous garden where colorful chickens happily roam, Free-Range Chicken Gardens is the guide that will bring the dream home to roost.

Review

I have been debating having backyard chickens for a while. I was torn between a few ducks, or some chickens. We had ducks in our “backyard” at the apartment and they would often come to our porch to greet us for food. I don’t know why, but I really love birds. I knew that when we moved to the house (where we live in the ‘woods’ pretty much and have a HUGE backyard) that I would want to actually have ducks, or chickens.

It is this book, Free-Range Chicken Gardens, that sealed the deal on having chickens instead of ducks, though. the book is filled with amazingly beautiful pictures of backyard gardens in which the chickens are free-range. to me, these gardens look like heaven! They have a certain oasis feel, that is for sure. Imagine the great eggs that come from a happy and healthy chicken vs commercial caged chickens.

But it’s not just pictures, but incredibly useful information. We, as potential chicken owners (or just readers),  are presented with images with a few popular chicken breeds with some descriptions. Bloom helps us decide which breed is best for us (we decided on the silkie, by the way.) the silkies are docile and friendly and are great for children. But there are many varieties and no two families are exactly the same in specific chicken needs. while some are more for pets (as silkies are), some are more for meat, and some for eggs.

Free-Range Chicken Gardens is not just a book about gardening, but also a really in depth guide to raising chickens AND creating a garden habitat that would be both beautiful and beneficial for free-range chickens. I was incredibly impressed with this book and will definitely look to it often when deciding what to place in our own backyard habitat.

If you are in to sustainable living/homesteading, then I definitely recommend this book. Free-Range Chicken Gardens has dual purpose — information AND pictures. a book that you can keep on your coffee table, fit this selection into your green home as soon as possible.