Chicken raisers will adore this unique book that shares everything you'd want to about how the creatures think, what they feel, and how they interact in flocks. Fascinating!

I will preface my review in saying that I am a chicken-lover. I started with 6 "hens" - one ended up being a rooster - and chicken-math has brought me to a current total of 14. When I saw the quirky chicken faces on the cover of How to Read a Chicken's Mind I was instantly intrigued and knew it belonged on my bookshelf!

What a delight to read! Melissa Caughey presents us with a full-color exploration of our favorite furry friends. She gives us basic history and anatomy lessons, explaining how chickens are the last living dinosaurs that originated from jungle-fowl. We are able to learn many fun things about how they communicate and how we, as people, can develop loving and lasting relationships with chickens.

I love reading about the mannerisms of chickens because although they each have distinct personalities, they also share many characteristics. This book is a great introduction to chickens and is an easy read. There are resources at the end for further reading, which is a nice supplement to this quick read. One critique I have is I wish there were more personal stories, as I love reading about all the fun adventures we have as chicken owners.

Thank you to NetGalley, Storey Publishing, Storey Publishing, LLC, and the author Melissa Caughey for an ARC of How to Read a Chicken's Mind in exchange for an honest review!

I have never owned a chicken, but I have been a lifelong lover of animals. This book ... this book is a delight. It's charming, funny, and perfect (in my opinion) for younger, and evil adult animal lovers. It goes over some of the basics, like the various calls, the various flock roles, and behaviors, as well as stories and trivia that were well written and made me want to own a chicken or three.

Honestly, the fact that they can use teamwork to get into a garden, show the ability to delay instant gratification -- bypassing one available treat for another, more favored one not yet present -- and make friendships both with other chickens and their humans is all just impressive.

The writing was a highlight. Conversational, educational without ever talking down, and easily graspable. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

I love chickens: I have a veritable rainbow of ceramic ones in my kitchen, a growing collection of chicken books, and generally find them such interesting wee birds… so, when I saw this on NetGalley, I had to check it out! 🐔

This is a beautifully presented book with wonderful pictures, a great layout, and a plain language writing style that combines lite science with the author’s experience and hypotheses.

The science is a bit thin on the ground for what readers might expect from a nature book. The book does cover some history, anatomy, social and community structures, but it’s all quite surface level. For the research quoted, I think the book would have benefited from a more comprehensive bibliography (maybe with footnotes?) so readers could explore and dive deeper.

The author’s experience and stories were a delight to read! I almost wish Caughey had focused on these stories rather than wandering into the anthropomorphization of chickens in the personality and traits section, the chicken souls section, and some of the circumstantial evidence presented as fact.

Ultimately, this is a fast read and a good introduction to chickens and the joy that they can bring to those who steward their care. Caughey’s personal anecdotes are wonderful and her love of these magnificent birds shines though in the book! If you’re looking for a more in-depth dive into chicken communication, social structures, and research into chicken’s emotions, you might not take as much away from this as a beginner.

Content warning: some of the experiments covered and detail about the treatment of exploited chickens on factory farms make for some difficult reading.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thank you so much, Storey Publishing!