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Everything you need to know to raise one chicken or 100. You'll learn how to choose the right breed, care for chicks, and build feeders and shelters.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living: Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books to readers. For 40 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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Your backyard can be the source of the best eggs and meat you've ever tasted by raising your own chickens. They require only a modest outlay of time, space and food. This 148-page book covers all the basics in a light and entertaining style, from housing and feeding through incubating, bringing up chicks, butchering and raising chickens for show.

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Chickens — why not? Tens of thousands of people in all areas of the country enjoy raising these birds, whether for food or companionship. Of course, you may want to read Living With Chickens just for the sheer joy of it. Straightforward prose and illustrations give any future chicken farmer the tools needed to get started. Jay Rossier draws on his own experiences and those of his fellow poultrymen in discussing everything from feeding and housing the birds to keeping marauders from invading the coop. Personal anecdotes, interesting facts, and lush, full-color photographs round out this indispensable guide. Highly recommended.

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In this updated edition of her best-selling classic, author Cherry Hill teaches you how to be a responsible steward of the land and refine your "horsekeeping consciousness," while providing horses with the best care possible. Illustrated with photographs and instructive plan drawings, this new edition features expanded coverage of environmentally responsible management methods, acreage selection, plot layouts and barn designs, fencing options, pasture management and useful checklists.

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Chicken coops come in all sizes and styles to meet the needs of every chicken family. Start a great DIY project, and build a chicken coop with these how-to drawings and conceptual plans for 45 different designs — from strictly practical to flights of fancy — guaranteed to meet the needs of every chicken owner. A 16-page color section shows detailed photos of many of the featured coops.

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This must-have reference for the small-flock owner covers the problems and diseases common to chickens of all breeds and ages. Practical charts identify common symptoms and causes of disease, while an alphabetic listing of diseases provides advice on treatment.

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As pets or livestock, goats are increasingly popular animals on farms large and small. Easier and cheaper to keep than many larger animals, they will keep a pony company, pull a cart, and produce the perfect milk for many artisan cheeses or meat for some of the most up-and-coming ethnic cuisines. For anyone thinking of acquiring a goat or starting a herd — for whatever reason — this book is an essential resource.

Written by an authority on goat breeding and behavior, this approachable guide covers every component of raising goats for fun or profit, meat or milk. Beginning with the basics — history and behavior, types and breeds — Carol Amundson answers all of a prospective owner's questions about getting a goat, from land requirements and regulations to choosing or assessing particular animals or breeds.

In a clear and engaging way, she goes into the details of housing and feeding, breeding and milking, training and showing, transporting and marketing goats of all kinds -- as well as the dos and donts of keeping them healthy from birth to old age. Concise, complete and easy-to-use, this is a reference that no goat owner should be without.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $19.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Prized for their feathers or eggs, raised for their meat or their beauty or simply for fun, poultry of a dazzling array of sorts and sizes have a place in the heart of farmers, ranchers, and bird fanciers alike. If you want to raise fowl — of whatever kind and for whatever reason — this book is the perfect place to begin. Poultry expert Christine Heinrichs lays out the distinctions between waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans), turkeys, gamebirds (peafowl, pheasants, quail, and others), ratites (ostriches, emus, and rheas), and pigeons. She then clearly details the very different requirements for raising each species, from feeding and housing to husbandry and health, to showing and marketing and legal concerns. Whether you're thinking of starting a flock or acquiring a few feathered friends, this handy guide tells you everything you need to know to raise healthy poultry for pleasure or profit — or both.

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Pigs were once known as "mortgage lifters," a term that endears them to many small farmers. Whether you want a pig on your property for pleasure or profit, on a small scale or large, this is the book you should have.

From first considerations to last, choosing a breed to bringing home the bacon, this approachable, authoritative guide covers every facet of raising pigs. Whats the story behind the modern pork industry? What are the advantages of raising pigs on a small scale, and what does it take in the way of resources and accommodations?

After delving into these questions, author Philip Hasheider goes into the details of housing, feeding, and caring for pigs, as well as breeding, showing, and marketing them--as a project, a hobby, or a business, or just to have one of these unique porcine characters around the farmyard. His book also includes a glossary of terms, a list of resources, and information about pork organizations, regulations, and ordinances.

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More than 128 birds strut their stuff across the pages of Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, the ultimate primer for farmers and fanciers alike. Admire the handsome black and white plumage of Lakenvelder roosters, read the fascinating history of the Blue Hens of Delaware, and marvel at the petite size and toylike appearance of Call ducks. And if you’re curious to know which heritage turkeys are making a comeback, look no further. This definitive guide to North American barnyard and wild fowl includes a brief history of each breed, detailed descriptions of identifying characteristics, and colorful photography that celebrates the birds’ quirky personalities and charming good looks. If it’s fowl facts and photos you want, you’ll find them all here.