Page 58 - Fall2011

All Thumbs Book Reviews

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock Many people probably know chickens have
by Harvey Ussery an elaborate social structure commonly referred
Chelsea Green Publishing, 2011 to as a pecking order. You can’t have very many
cocks or there will be endless war, kind of like
The foreword to The Small-Scale Poultry with humans. Occasionally a cock will insist
Flock is written by Joel Salatin, which is always on picking a fight with his keeper. In cases of
a good way to start a book. If you read and study excessive incorrigibility, the only answer in this
this book, you will learn almost everything there situation is for the keeper to take advantage of
is to know about chickens except why they cross his or her higher position on the food chain.
the road (unless I missed that). However, as Chickens and other birds will do a lot of
Harvey Ussery wisely points out, you may think farm work for you if you let them. You can have
you know about chickens, but you will not know chicken tillers and composters, goose weeders,
chickens until you spend some time with real, and duck bug-and-slug zappers. They help with
live chickens. fertilization when their numbers are kept to a
Most how-to or all-about books can be rather reasonable limit. However, as concentrated com-
dry and tedious. While there are sections that mercial operations have shown, you will run into
get deep into the nuts and bolts of how and why trouble if you try to find out how many chickens
things are done the way they are on the Ussery can dance on the head of a pin.
homestead, this book is spiced up with interest- Several chapters discuss what to feed a
ing stories. In one memorable example, a friend chicken, and there is also some brief coverage of
was watching TV on a windy night when he feed for other birds. Chickens are omnivores and
heard a persistent tapping at his front door. He some can be more self-sufficient than others. As
opened the door to find not a raven, but one of with humans, it is best to stick to feeds with in-
his own hens who led him back to the chicken gredients you can pronounce. Appendices in the
house where the wind had blown shut the coop back give additional feeding details along with
door, trapping the birds outside. Apparently the instructions for building various structures you
flock had analyzed the situation, determined they and your chickens might want. Appendix G has
If you read were going to need help, and sent a messenger to an interesting comparison between nutritional
and study this obtain that help. content of eggs from factory farms versus eggs
Ussery corrects common misunderstand-

from someone like Harvey Ussery or Joel Salatin.
book you will ings for those who don’t know any better. Some Mr. Ussery doesn’t go into any long rants but
learn almost chickens really do lay naturally white eggs and covers a little of everything from the morality
everything they have the same nutritional content as eggs of of eating chicken, to the economics of why one
would want to spend more money on good local
any other color. Technically the male of the spe-
there is to cies is called a cock, not a rooster, and the good food instead of “cheaper” commercial grocery
know about ones will “dance for the ladies.” Both males and food; from how to stretch increasingly worthless
chickens, females can be surprisingly ferocious fighters. dollars to how chickens help build compost. I
The noises chickens make are not completely didn’t notice any mention of whether dollar bills
except why random. They make specific sounds for content- would make a good addition to compost but that’s
they cross the ment, calling their chicks, warning the flock of an okay. The thumb is UP.
road (unless I approaching predator, or warning an unwanted Review by Tim Boyd
invader to get away or risk being shredded by
missed that). sharp beaks and claws.

58 Wise Traditions FALL 2011 FALL 2011 Wise Traditions

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