By Harvey Ussery

 Chelsea Green Press, ISBN: 978-1603582902 ; $39.95

Ussery is a homesteader inVirginiawho has taken his passion for poultry to the written page.  He paired up with Chelsea Green to publish a phenomenal resource that delves into everything from the philosophy of why and how we should be keeping poultry, to housing, starting a flock, feed and water systems, fencing, working with pasture-based and backyard systems, integrating poultry with home and farm enterprises, predator issues, butchering, producing feed, poultry behavior, wintering over, health and disease management, to handling, storage, and marketing.  Ussery doesn’t limit his discussion to one particular breed of chicken, nor does he limit it just to chickens themselves.  He delves deeply into breed considerations, and discusses the needs of waterfowl,Guineasand turkeys as well. The book is even more helpful owing to the extensive color photographs that vividly and fearlessly illustrate all the nitty gritty details of poultry production (including some of the best, most helpful images of butchering I’ve seen).  I recommend this book highly.  It is equally suitable for the potential urban poultry keeper and the large-scale pastured poultry producer, and promises to be the first go-to resource for everything you will need to know about your poultry endeavors.