A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens: Best Breeds, Creating a Home, Care and Handling, Outdoor Fun, Crafts and Treats

My family is preparing for our first backyard chicks this spring. We love to read and research in advance for any new project. While I found the Chicken Chick’s Guide To Backyard Chickens very helpful for me - I wanted something that my children (ages 7 & 4) could read and engage with as well. Melissa Caughey’s “A Kids Guide to Keeping Chickens” has been without a doubt the best book I found for them. There are beautiful full color photographs, crafts and recipes for kids to do for their chickens, and most importantly, lots of good information about caring for chickens. And it’s all written in a way that kids can read and understand. The chapters cover everything from selecting kid friendly breeds, to preparing a home for your chickens, the anatomy of a chicken, to daily care, handling a sick chicken, and having fun with your chicken. My 7 year old is able to read this book on her own, but prefers when we read and discuss together. I’ve certainly learned some things from this book myself! The 4 year old loves the pictures of the different chickens and looking at the projects we can work on for the chickens. I loved this book so much I bought a second copy for a gift. I highly recommend this book if you have children and are getting or already have started your backyard flock!

We really liked this book from the first opening. It's well-written and illustrated. It describes many aspects of chicken-keeping. Covers many pertinent topics, in language kids can easily understand, but does not 'talk down' to them, or use a 'baby-talk' format. Straightforward writing, addressing many aspects of chickens from egg to adult. It also shares a lot of information about their surroundings, and important (and fun) ways of caring for them. Cute craft ideas and recipes for egg dishes in the last couple chapters of the book. It also has 'testimonies' from real kids, about why they love their chickens. Definitely recommend this book.

I pre-ordered this book because I am a fan of Tilly's Nest, Melissa's Blog, and wanted to be sure to get it as soon as it came out. I read it cover to cover in one day. It is not just for children, any age will enjoy reading it. It is easy and fun to read and even the most experienced chicken keepers will find ideas they can put to use. I love the common sense approach to chicken keeping that the book shares. When I read this book, unlike some other books I've read, I find myself thinking that these ideas and practices make sense, that they are something a real person would actually do. It covers everything you would expect a book on chicken keeping to cover.. caring for chicks, hen development, illness management, coop safety, etc... but it also has fun recipes (Rice Pudding is really good), crafts, little stories from kids... it is just a really easy book to read that still has lots of great content!

Don't let the name of this book fool you -- even if you don't have kids, this is an excellent book for a new chicken keeper who loves their chickens. I got so many ideas to make treats for my hens, and to make their lives more fun. The author truly understands the loving relationship we can create with our chickens. That being said -- if you do have kids - this book is a must - especially if your kids can read it prior to the first chicks moving in. They will have a blast treating their flock. More importantly, they will learn all about hens - from their anatomy to proper feeding and care. There are crafts and recipes for kids to do too. A delightful book - great information - vibrant photos - as the host of the internet based Chicken Show - this book is one of my favorites for all round chicken care for those of us who consider chickens pets. Love, love, love it.

I bought this for my 6 year old, advanced reader, who loves chickens! We were in the process of setting up for our chickens, reading a lot of books and articles and he wanted something he could read as well. I do this this book is geared towards kids a little older but with some help with a few words by 6 year old is able to understand everything in this book. We have been using this book to answer questions about our chickens as they come up and believe it's more clear and better laid out than many of the "adult" guides we've read. Colorful, pretty, so many fun craft and chicken treat ideas! Must have if you're planning on getting chickens or have a child that is interested!

Great little book, with instructions on everything from selecting chicken breeds, to building chicken coups, to daily care of chickens, to presenting chickens for show. Things I found especially useful were places where it told children to have an adult help them do things such as working with tools, and to have an adult check on local laws regarding home raising of chickens. They cut down from the thousands of chicken breeds available to just a few, very different breeds, with their pros and cons, to allow someone to decide what breed they want - as well as how to get them. The book would be useful for an adult who was thinking of keeping chickens for the first time, or at least the first time in many years. Nothing at all in the book was there about raising chickens for meat. A suggestion was made to possibly give a chicken which the child could not raise or keep to a farmer.

My granddaughter read most of this on her own...and pretty quickly. We now feel like we might know what we're doing. Lots of easy to follow education and fun projects to take on. Great confidence builder....

So informative! I bought this book for my 7 year old daughter just before we started our journey as new chicken owners. I ended up reading it too and we followed pretty much everything this book suggests from which breeds to get to what material to fence the run with. We are now 5 weeks in with our 10 chickies and it has been such a smooth process, largely because we felt so prepared after reading this book! Would highly recommend to any new chicken owner, child or adult.

My kids loved this book. Such a good learning tool and realy had everything we needed to know. Nice colourful pictures. Easy to follow. Lots of first hand insights.

It's a great book which has got my children really excited about keeping chickens, and understanding the responsibilities and chores etc. I've also learned loads. It's a great info book just for adults. And the many cute activities for kids to do (make a chicken piñata out of an old cabbage!! Make a peck toy out of loo roll and peanut butter!) are really simple and fun.

Informative book with pictures to guide children and their parents when starting along the road of chicken keeping. My 9 year old granddaughter had an opportunity to adopt a few hens from a knowledgeable neighbour so there is help available but she can look up some basics herself and ask questions.

Informative and fun

I bought this for my 11yr old son who recently got some hens. It’s perfect for his age and level of understanding. He’s not a fan of reading but with this book having lots of pictures, diagrams and fun content, he has really engaged with it.