The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Zero-Waste Chicken Keeping

This is a good book about keeping backyard chickens, though the pictures are of huge flocks, which seems sort of ad odds with what is being discussed.

The advice is all practical, and goes about how to raise chicks into laying hens, and what is necessary in a coop.

But if you are looking for a step by step guid this isn't quite it.

This is a general overview of what you have to consider to make your chickens not leave behind too much waste, all the way into making chicken soup out of them. (Use the feet and neck).

Some of the advice is rather odd, when thinking of zero waste, such as using a plastic liner in your nesting box. I would think that using plastic of any kind would not be of zero waste.

It is little things, such as that, that make me rate this book slightly lower than a four star review that I gave Andy's other book on the subject.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Zero-Waste Chicken Keeping is a tutorial guide to chicken husbandry with the added benefit of regenerative and sustainable practices. Released 11 June 2019 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 120 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

The book is beautifully photographed and the well written tutorial instructions support and expand the photography. It's laid out logically and accessibly in rough chronological order, from buying or hatching chicks, raising them to adulthood, and harvesting eggs/meat (no meat harvesting tutorial or photos included). There's a discussion of meat vs. egg laying breeds and how to source chickens for different purposes.

The book continues with reducing waste for feeding, housing, and keeping a flock. This includes composting, feeding alternatives, repurposing/reusing/recycling and more. There's a good trouble-shooting guide with concrete examples of what to do when chickens stop laying, how to make soup stock, acquiring and raising new flocks and more.

This isn't a one-size-fits-all guide to chicken keeping. The poultrist will want to source other info and have other books available for more general husbandry questions or problems; they're beyond the scope of this book. For what it is, though, this book has a lot of good tips for reducing waste.

Reducing our carbon footprints and conserving our dwindling resources is vital if we're to have any chance of survival. Every bit helps. This book is a good source of tips for doing just that.

Four stars.

I like the beautiful layout of this book, and it's very comprehensive information about the whole cycle of zero-waste chicken keeping. The only thing I miss is the production of alternative feeds like maggots, worms and insects.

We just started raising chickens again, and I want to learn more about it, especially when it comes to impact on the property. The Chicken Whisperer’s Guide to Zero-Waste Chicken Keeping looked like a good place to start for that.

From the beginning, there are ideas on how you can keep chickens without creating waste. Most can be done with little or no trouble and will be beneficial in other areas of your property. The book covers from hatching to egg production to end of egg production, and what to expect at each stage. The basic equipment that you'll need to raise chickens from eggs to adults is listed, so you can know what to have on hand before you need it.

The book is very thorough, but easy to understand. The tips can be scaled for the size of operation that you want to do, but they are geared for smaller operations. It will give you a good start on raising chickens, or help you get better at it if you already have them. Even though this isn't the first time that I've raised chickens, there is information that I didn't know. I feel more confident in taking better care of our chickens and doing so in a way that reduces waste both before and after taking care of them.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Good book to the chicken keeper on how to streamline their chicken husbandry and reduce the waste the chickens produce.

Clearly and engagingly written, with details on everything from building a proper chicken coop to caring for brooding hens, this book is valuable to amateurs as well as experienced chicken farmers--f0r the latter, zero-waste ideas for building the aforementioned coop, setting up a water supply that won't freeze, and more!

An interesting overview of chicken keeping from set up and acquisition to end of usefulness as laying hens. The author has an obvious passion for chickens and knowledge of chicken keeping across the decades.
Laid out in a chronological fashion from how to start your flock to how to care for them and use the bounty they provide, this book gives additional ideas about repurposing items to keep costs down as well as waste and odor.
The photos are wonderful.

I had a basic knowledge of chicken farming before I got my chickens. I wish I had read this book before. I did run into several areas that I thought could be improved on but needed some expert guidance which Andy Schneider provides in spades. Its obvious that he has developed his strategies to better the health of his chickens and reduce the waste footprint left behind. An excellent guide to improve my small flock and keep them happy and laying.

Incredibly thorough and talks through pretty much every angle. Care, housing, biosecurity, feed, eggs and processing for meat, it's all here and has given me a lot to think about. Must-read for chicken keepers!

The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Zero-Waste Chicken Keeping by Andy Schneider is a must read book and highly recommended if you are new to owning chickens. I've just got two chickens called Gertie and Ruby and this book has helped me a lot on looking and caring for my girls.
The layout of this wonderful book was easy to follow and was full of good information and full of illustrations throughout.
I loved it so much I even went out and purchased a hard copy of it and its now one of my books I go to if I need advice on my chickens.

Big Thank you to Netgalley, The Quarto Group and the author Andy Schneider for a wonderful book.