Page 58 - Fall2011
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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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