Edible gardeners want to eat what they grow. Chicken owners want happy egg-laying helpers. But happy, free-ranging chickens will mess up a veggie patch faster than you can say cotyledon.
And that is the conflict garden-growing chicken-owners face.
Thankfully, Free-Range Chicken Gardens, the new book by landscape designer and chicken expert Jessi Bloom, tells you how to have your cake and eat it to. (Chicken cake? Never mind, moving on.)
You could win this book!
Jessi sent me a review copy of the book so I would have a chance to read it before her virtual release party, happening today all over the interwebs*, and I’m so glad she did.
From Free Range Chicken Gardens I learned:
- How to train chickens to come when I call. Now six of our hens will run toward me at full-tilt when I say, “Hey, chook chook chook!” because they think I have sunflower seeds. The seventh, the really, really stupid one, gets confused and starts ba-gawking. (Note: six hens running straight at you will induce mild, Jurassic Park velociraptor flash-back panic every single time.)
- How to turn chickens into a moderately effective weed-controlling yard-crew with paddock-style fencing.
- How to use groundcover to discourage chickens from going places you don’t want.
- How terrifically hip and modern expanded metal mesh looks on a chicken coop.
The book provides a good overview on coop building styles and considerations, very basic chicken care info, do-grow/don’t-grow plant lists for the chicken garden and lots and lots of gorgeous inspirational pictures.
But for me, the most valuable thing Free-Range Chicken Gardens offers is insightful evaluation on how to design the coop, run and fencing so that it’s easier to make the chickens an active ally in the garden.
I wish Jessi had published this book last year, before we built our chicken coop. I would have done things a little differently in terms of incorporating paddock fencing into the design.
As it is, I think the advice in this book will really help us put the chickens to their all-around best use while keeping them happier and healthier in the process. It’ll just be a little more tricky to take full advantage of the wisdom now than it would have been a year ago.
People still thinking about getting chickens or upgrading your current coop, I highly recommend this book before you start to build. It’s got great ideas to ponder. Current flock owners, if you are struggling with how to get your chickens to eat the weeds and not the arugula, then this is the book for you, too.
Win a Free Copy, And More
Timber Press, the excellent publishing house for Free-Range Chicken Gardens, has apparently lost their mind and they are giving away free books all over the damn place.
They are giving away a copy of both Free-Range Chicken Gardens and The Fresh Egg Cookbook, which should inspire you with new ideas for what to do with all those backyard eggs.
Yeah, this one too.
To enter to win both books, leave a comment with either your most pressing chicken question (I’ll see if I can find a chicken expert to answer it for you), your funniest chicken story (make us laugh!), the number one reason other than eggs you want chickens (homemade feather bed?), or your favorite egg recipe (title/description is fine, you don’t need to type up the whole recipe).
Feel free to comment as much as you’d like, but only one entry per person will be counted and one winner will be chosen.
Entries will be accepted until Wednesday April 11, 8 PM PST. Winner will be announced on Thursday April 12th.
More Chances To Win
Timber Press isn’t just giving these books away on this blog, they’re also sponsoring a half-dozen identical giveaways around the virtual world. Which means…enter here and then start clicking around, because even if you don’t win the NW Edible giveaway, you might win one of the other ones.
Other bloggers will probably have different ways of entering, since we’re all doing this separately, so be sure to check what the other sites are looking for before going all cut-and-paste on this giveaway.
*You’ll find similtaneous book giveaway contests of Free-Range Chicken Gardens happening at:
Reminder: Urban Farms Magazine Subscription Giveaway
Also, if you haven’t yet entered yesterday’s giveaway (we’re giving away stuff right-and-left this week!), make sure to put your name in the hat to win a year’s subscription to Urban Farms Magazine by taking the Seed Starting Challenge (it’s easy!).
Bloggers, you can also link-up your favorite post on edible gardening or seed starting and be entered to win a (second, Northwest Edible-sponsored) subscription to Urban Farms Magazine too, if readers pick your post as their favorite!
Good luck, everyone.
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We like to eat Crepes most mornings. I put squash or beet puree in the batter and I serve it with powdered sugar and sliced fruit. I found a really yummy recipe for Eclairs with an eggy, cooked badder to make the pastry. Like a pop-over. SOOO Good and rich filled with vanilla creme and topped with chocolate. OR Flourless Chocolate Cake.
We’ve had a few funny experiences with the chickens over the years. I think the best is when a really broody hen chased a dog we were sitting all the way across the yard and back into the house. She was SO mad and he was so scared of her!
Love egg salad, and would love the benefits of chicken poo in the compost/garden ;o)
Well, when I started reading this post, I was of a mind that I wanted chickens for the eggs and the compost and the experience of being a (somewhat) urban homesteader. NOW, I want chickens for all that AND for all the tick-eating, garden-tilling, entertainment! I have so much to learn! Please enter me in the contest. I want re-live Jurassic Park! LOL.
Besides eggs, I love chickens for eating bugs, weeds seeds and weeds. Besides that they will eat even yucky produce and leftovers (BTW they love maggots! eeew) At the moment I have four hens and a roo. Really funny, the roo is twice the size of three of the girls (they are just coming into lay and not that big yet) but he is sooo henpecked! He runs from them if they fuss at him when they get to the treats first! So much for my idea of home hatched chicken dinners!
I would love to have chickens! Right now I’m just in the dreaming/planning stage and enjoying fresh eggs from other people’s free range chickens when I can get them. My favorite egg recipe is egg-in-a-basket. It’s so easy: Melt one Tb. butter in cast-iron skillet, tear a hole in a slice of bread, but bread and torn-out piece in skillet, crack one or two eggs and add them (as is or scrambled) to the bread-hole. Cook to desired doneness, flipping halfway through, and happily devour 🙂
Last night I made a quiche in the oven with Dandelion greens, stinging nettle, and mustard greens. I used my grass fed lamb and cheese and 10 farm fresh eggs. Oh, soooo goooood!!!!!!!!
I call my hens by jiggling my key ring.
Here’s a question: My three hens will be joined shortly by three pullets. How do y’all introduce them to each other so the inevitable conflict will be minimized?
Thanks.
I would love to win this book! A thing that I like about chickens…..Well I like that they eat all the pincher bugs that annoy me. The second reason is because they help my plants grow!
While chickens are hilarious _all_the_time_, my favorite chicken story involves the alleged-pullet who grew into a handsome buff orp rooster. Around the time he started coming into his roosterness, we discovered his burning hatred for our italian greyhound. IG’s are such sweet, submissive, cuddly animals; I have never met an aggressive one. And boy howdy, they are *fast* when they run – part of being a greyhound, I guess. Even though the dog never so much as bothered the hens, the rooster would chase the IG around and around the garden relentlessly, squawking and flapping his wings, and somehow keeping up with the very fast dog, who ran for his life. It really ruined my plans for training the IG to guard the chickens, as he is now terrified of them. Mr. Rooster found a new home on a farm shortly afterwards, and I hold out hope that they have a dog he can chase.
I suppose I don’t have a pressing chicken question, but I’ve been bogged down lately by researching different breeds of chickens and haven’t found a concise guide to backyard chicken breeds (in regards to behavior & egg variations) in internet blog form. I’m just dreaming right now, but there is a glimmer of light that maybe next year chickens could happen as part of our household.
Kirkland, WA is in the process of adjusting their rules on backyard chickens. As it currently stands, they only allow 3 hens and no roosters unless you have a huge property.. though I’ve never heard of it being reinforced. Apparently they’re working with Seattle Tilth and some concerned citizens to adjust the limits as a result of the backyard food movement. Yay!
I think the additional benefit of chickens for me would be amusement and joy, and poop. I was the little kid that loved to chase chickens around peoples yards so I could pick them up. I suppose that’s not a great way to treat a chicken, thinking back on it.
My favorite chicken story was from a friend that lived down the road from us. Seems they had one chicken of the group that HAD to have fresh water. Every time the chicken decided it wanted a drink it would come to the house window and start pecking until someone would let it into the house. Once in the house it would jump up to the sink and wait for the water to be turned on. Once it had it’s fill, it would hop down and go back outside.
Now don’t start thinking this chicken was super smart. This was the same chicken that would almost drown in a rain storm because it wouldn’t know to go into the barn and roost. The family had to scoop the chicken up and carry it inside. Hmmmmm maybe it WAS smart and just was waiting for the pampering.
Deviled Eggs are the best!!
I want chickens to eat the bugs in my garden!
I just found your site. We like German pancakes. It uses six eggs and is very easy to make for breakfast.:) Like your site.:)
Sharon 🙂
My favorite egg recipe is simple, and comes from my cousin Annette: scramble a bunch of eggs till almost set. Stir in a large scoop or cream cheese, some chopped scallions, and some flaked smoked salmon. If you don’t have salmon on hand, use fancy salt for flavor. Done! Delicious!
Oooo…my old neighbors back in NH had chickens in their backyard who would regularly hop the fence and wander about in my backyard, eating bugs and making happy chicken noises. Aside from eggs, I really just enjoy watching chickens explore the world. Plus it’d be great to have someone to feed tomato hornworms and other garden pests too instead of just squashing them with my trowel! Sadly my current apartment lacks enough space to house (and feed) chickens, but I hope that someday soon I’ll have space to keep them!
Favorite egg recipes…mmm…poached eggs in polenta for breakfast or challah (when I need to use up a lot of eggs at once).
So we just got chicks and need to build a coop. Seems like lots of plans take small pieces of wood and nail them together. Why not just use large pieces of plywood and nail them to 2 x 4s? Just curious.
Apple/sweet potato cake with poached egg and sweet mustard sauce. You just can’t beat it!
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breakfastbrunch/eggs-breakfastbrunch/apple-sweet-potato-cake-with-poached-egg-and-sweet-mustard-sauce/
I am very interested in creating a self-sufficient lifestyle. I’m honestly not too thrilled about livestock, but chickens don’t ask me to touch their udders, either. 🙂 I am also excited about their wonderful dooky in my garden, ha ha!
My funniest story of having chickens was when I was about 7 years old. We had a good dozen of chickens and the mean ol’ rooster who owed our entire yard. One evening my Mother had broken a glass bowl making jello. After cleaning up the mess and I was chosen to take out the brown paper bag of trash. I had only walked a few feet away from the house when the rooster jumped on top of the coop.
He stared me down,
I froze….
“Dear God, not that crazy rooster!!!, please….”
He was fearless, hopped down from the coop and proceeded with lighting speed towards me. Instinctively, being a girly girly and still frozen in fear, I screamed and squeezed the paper bag {I don’t know why I did this} as hard as I could. Ripping through the paper and into my skin, the glass cut my arm.
I felt the stab… while continuing to scream I looked down at my arm, which now had a deep gash in it. When I did not immediately bleed, I screamed even louder,
and for some reason or the other I thought I had died…
literally died.
Not knowing how I was dead, I stopped screaming and looked for the rooster, who was now only a few seconds away from me…
time slowed down,
The Matrix special effects where now playing in my vision,
for a split milla-second I looked away from the evil rooster {who was almost upon me} and back at my arm, which at this point started bleeding. With the all the medical knowledge a seven year old could have,
I realized I was still alive…
alive at least until the rooster got me…
alive enough to scream a Harry Carry “mmmmMMMUuuuUUuttttTTTHHhheerrrrrr!”
With Ninja speed and skills, my little five foot nothing, Mexican Mama came running out of the kitchen door, whirling and twirling her broom over her head like she was Bruce Lee swinging nun-chucks or Luke Skywalker twirling his light-saber. She was yelling things in Spanish words I knew I was not allowed to say,
let alone think…
words that made the mean ol’ rooster blush and run in shame.
It had to have been the words, because every swing my Mama swung, she missed him. Not once did she make contact with that bird and yet it ran….
it just had to have been the words.
She was Super Woman in the flesh with an apron, a broom and some unrepeatable Spanish, my Mother became my hero and the rooster became our dinner.
We have 3 chickens and one of them has been walking around for the last 6 months with no feathers on her bum at all. Yeah, she’s the lowest in the pecking order and right now she’s got this single tail feather sticking straight up in the air, almost like she’s waving her “I surrender” flag. Any suggestions to get Meanie Mildred, Queen of the trio, to stop the pecking?
I need convincing when it comes to chickens; an enthusiastic book might help. I love and am very protective of my landscaping but would also like to have eggs, compost, and the experience for my children. Best egg recipe is my sweet noodle kugel.
We have five hens….started raising for eggs……now it’s all about their “entertainment”value.
This winter I fixed them hot oatmeal with sliced apples for a tummy warming breakfast……after about three days they climbed the stairs of the deck, lined up at the backdoor (glass paned) and knocked til I brought breakfast out.
My question is how to allow them to “free range” without scratching up the vegetable and perennial beds.
Poop! I love what chicken poop and the straw it saturates does for the compost heap!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Now that my cats are approaching their sunset years, I am ready to plan for some chicks (hopefully with the help of these books :-)).
I have to wait for my cats to pass, not because of what they would do to the chickens, but because of my cats’ (well, cat’s really) fear of chickens.
When we moved to a homestead in the Santa Cruz mountains, our landlords had chickens who roamed freely. After a week of acclimation confinement inside the house, Chester, my eldest cat, tore out the front door just as soon as he was able only to literally come to a halt, mid-stride when a gorgeous Americauna strutted by. Chester followed the bird’s every move from the safety of our porch, gave me a hiss and then marched back into the house, where he stayed for another two weeks. Poor guy.
Both books sound wonderful! My favorite eggy recipe is called Zong-Xi Eggs…Eggs with an Asian kick. Delicious!
Please enter me in the contest to win one of the books can’t wait to read them both. Thanks for the chance to enter.
My wife sometimes makes free range eggs with finely chopped spinach from the garden and the best cheese from the fridge all mixed up. That’s eating!
My favorite way to eat our eggs, currently, is the simple but delicious eggs benedict. With plenty of chives.
The main reason I want chickens is for my daughter to have a close connection to where her food comes from and chores related to taking care of animals and contributing to the household.
Just today, my husband was out working in the yard and found a DOZEN eggs hidden in the ferns. Silly chickens started hiding their eggs a bit too early for Easter.
Our three chickens are pest control experts. I usually keep them out of my containers, but when the weather warmed up, I saw that my chives were covered in aphids. I briefly considered digging up and replacing them, but instead gave the chickens unfettered access. They picked the sad-looking plants clean in an afternoon. Now, my chives are lush & aphid-free. Marvelous!
Either eggs benedict or creme brulee for sure!
If there were no longer any eggs I would be sad to longer have cornbread! I love cornbread and that would have to be my favorite thing to use them for.
I would love to have chickens. Soon, I hope 🙂 My favorite egg dish is one that my grandmother used to make called “Easter Egg Bake.” Thanks for the opportunity.
I’ll give a try.
When I was kid I spent summers here in Italy at my grandmothers house. She had many chicken. One day us kids in an old enciclopedia found out that you could hypnotize chicken. You take a chicken, calm it down by stroking it and place a small stick between the eyes, very close. Slowly you move the stick slightly away from the chicken to about 10cm. You put down the chicken and place the stick in front of them. All us kids (we were like 10 dirty brats) ran into the coop and started chasing chicken to hypnotize them. It took us a while but we managed to get most of the chicken completely still staring at their stick. So cool, all of them lying around.
So I really need that book because I’m just starting out with chicken in the middle of the city and the only thing I really know about them is how to hypnotize them.
As far as recipes are concerned I can give you many italian ones: pasta alla carbonara, frittata etc.
lol… love it!!
Trying to figure out this how to build my own chick brooder thing. What do you suggest for how to build one? Also, I am so curious to learn chicken speak. I am going to spend so much time with my chickens that I will know who is talking and what they are saying. I read in a book that you can identify a chicken by the voice. This will be such a fun learning experience!
What a great book idea. Hubby and I are just modifying our garden to incorporate our chooks.
Best chook memory. My 1yr old was eating a rissole near the chooks. Next thing I know she is chasing the chook who is now in possession of the rissole…. There was a pause where she stopped, looked at the chooks, looked at her empty hands and comprehended the loss!!!
I want chickens because they provide hours of entertainment. Watching them scratch and cluck and get excited about finding bugs is way better than watching TV and is so relaxing!
I have a funny story that happened this past Monday. We were given the opportunity to get 10 Rhode Island Red for free from our farmer who is scaling back his operation. Having to build a chicken tractor in a week-end in my garage meant that I had no time to put in a window or add a run to the tractor, not crucial yet as it is still cool here and no green grass yet. The hens adjusted well to the new coop and a week later, I managed to put in a good size window to allow more daylight into the coop. The hens would walk up to the window from time to time and have a peek at the outside world and enjoying the extra hours of light. The next day, I bought some chicken wire and with the help of my daughters, held the wire in a circle to allow the hens to get some fresh air and enjoy the day. Later on that afternoon, I put them back in the coop for the night and all was well. The next day, I got home from work and the rest of the family stayed in town, so I thought it would be nice to let the “girls” out, so I did – by myself. They stayed out for a couple of hours but when the time came to put them back in the coop, one of them escaped from the makeshift run. She was hanging between the house and the coop, where the other nine hens could see her from the window. All of a sudden, the started to throw themselves into the window thinking that was the way out to freedom! It was hilarious, especially when you consider that they lived with the new window for over a week and never paid much attention to it!
Thank you and congratulations on your blog.
Lévis
Other than eggs we want chickens for meat, diversity, self-sufficiency and meaningful work for our daughter. 🙂
You can train chickens to come when they are called?!? Why did I not know this earlier. I will take to start a training program with our girls promptly.
I’m looking for some assistance with my Speckled Sussex breed. It is the only one in the chicken yard that has lost her tail feathers. This was noticeable during our very wet fall and winter. Now the others are taking to pecking her. I’ve read that garlic infused olive oil sprayed on the affected area may help. Please advise. I could really use the books as well. Thank you.
I love chickens for their eggs, but really I get just as excited about their poop and how well it revs up my compost! Thanks for the chance to win.
I grew up on a farm with chickens (or chooks in my version of english) but my kids will be city kids so this is a small part of my childhood that they get to experience. Quiche and real, homemade custard are up there on my feel good egg recipes.
Totally want those books! I love making my eggs into custard. I make a stove-top pudding style custard that is so yummy. My eight hens are hilarious most of the time and they come to me calling “here girls” while shaking a container full of scratch.
This book is haunting me!!! I saw it in the book store a few weeks ago and when I went back to purchase, they didn’t have it in stock. They re-ordered but said it would be another week because it was coming from the publisher rather than a distributor. Geesh. I want this book already!!
Right now I have a pressing chicken question. I have a broody chicken that is being picked on by another chicken. Most of the time the broody hen stays in the nest but I shoo her out a couple of times a day so she’ll eat and get some exercise, but as soon as I do, one of the other chickens starts pecking at her. Got a whole beak worth of feathers this morning. Is it related to her broodiness? The one doing the picking on has always been at the top of the pecking order but all of the sudden she has become even more aggressive with this particular hen. I’m not sure what to do about it.
I wanted chickens because I have never had chickens in my life, so at 64 I got 32 cute, rare Delaware white chickadees and have loved and babied them ever since. They give me at least 2 dozen eggs a day that we sell to folks who drive by and see our adorable sign my daughter painted for us. Makes me feel like we have an actual farm, and yes, we do! Since I’ve always wanted a farm, the sound of these happy critters clucking away makes me feel all warm and secure inside.
Chickens are a hoot…best pets we’ve ever had! I draw the line at putting diapers on them…but I do love them! Hope to win the gardening book!
I wanted to get chickens for their eggs, but also because i wanted some pets that my family would consider strange. I have spent my life thus far being the odd ball of the family.. i figured i had to keep it up even into adulthood. Also chickens are so funny, they make many laughs.