Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard

( 2 )

Overview

Many gardeners fear chickens will peck away at their landscape, and chicken lovers often shy away from gardening for the same reason. But you can keep chickens and have a beautiful garden, too! Fresh eggs aren't the only benefit — chickens can actually help your garden grow and thrive, even as your garden does the same for your chickens.

In this essential handbook, award-winning garden designer Jessi Bloom covers everything a gardener needs to know, including chicken-keeping ...

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Overview

Many gardeners fear chickens will peck away at their landscape, and chicken lovers often shy away from gardening for the same reason. But you can keep chickens and have a beautiful garden, too! Fresh eggs aren't the only benefit — chickens can actually help your garden grow and thrive, even as your garden does the same for your chickens.

In this essential handbook, award-winning garden designer Jessi Bloom covers everything a gardener needs to know, including chicken-keeping basics, simple garden plans to get you started, tips on attractive fencing options, the best plants and plants to avoid, and step-by-step instructions for getting your chicken garden up and running.

For anyone who wants a fabulous garden where colorful chickens happily roam, Free-Range Chicken Gardens is the guide that will bring the dream home to roost.

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  • May11_4/Free-Range_Chicken_Gardens_Trailer_BB_b6955e36dc1b19f31bb10ff439b028f3f9cae9a0
    May11_4/Free-Range_Chicken_Gardens_Trailer_BB_b6955e36dc1b19f31bb10ff439b028f3f9cae9a0  

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Through personal experience and in-depth interviews with other backyard chicken farmers, Bloom, an award-winning garden designer, takes you from her early chicken-raising days, which she recalls as about “as easy as herding cats,”to the ultimate goal of maintaining a fitflock that will contrast and co-exist with a backyard garden.She gives tips about keeping the backyard from becoming a barnyard; selecting from a diverse palette of poultry from Rhode Island Reds to Easter Eggers;growing the plants that will benefit from hens and beautify a lawn; keeping “a simple chicken emergency kit”; regulating coop temperatures; and keeping predators away. Noise reduction ideas will also help keep neighbors’ potential annoyance at bay. The presentation is enhanced by detailed charts—how many square feet of yard for how many chickens, the chicken lifecycle, feedings from egg to chick to pullet to hen—for help in creating a chicken-inclusive environment in a variety of settings. Bloom offers a comprehensive guide from mating to medicine that will particularly help beginners, and vivid color photography by Kate Baldwin helps Bloom make a persuasive case. (Feb.14)
Booklist
“Numerous illustrations, full-color photos, charts and tables, garden layouts, and useful tips … offer a wealth of practical advice.”
ReadingAllYearLong.com
“This is one of the coolest books I have had the privilege of reviewing.”
Plant Talk blog
“A fun new book.”
— Valerie Easton
Spinning Alpaca Yarns.com
“If you have a backyard flock or you’re thinking of getting one, I would highly recommend this book as part of your poultry library.”
Garden Rant
“Everything you want to know about gardening with chickens…is here."
San Francisco Chronicle
“Exquisitely produced and artfully photographed.”
The American Gardener
“Bloom’s obvious enthusiasm for good design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space for hens and humans to enjoy.”
— Genevieve Schmidt
TheGardenCoop.com
"Jessi Bloom’s new book is as lush and inspiring as the chicken paradise featured on the front."
The Oregonian
“Solves the dilemma of having free-range chickens and a vegetable garden.”
— Kym Pokorny
TillysNest.com
“Well-written and would be a true asset to every chicken owner. This book has now become one of my favorite chicken books.”
FloraDoraGardens.com
“I can honestly refer to it as the Chicken Bible for Gardeners. With everything from coop design, dietary needs, to chicken personality explained, this book seems to leave nothing out.”
HenCam.com
“Dispenses good, commonsense advice.”
GreenPreferred.com
“Tackles the very fear that keeps so many from the enjoyment of raising their own backyard flock.”
WhitePinesWhisper.com
“I love this book. It has the two things I look for in any garden book: tons of solidly researched, well-written, detailed information and lots of big inspirational color photos.”
Sunset Magazine
"... a manifesto on the many ways to pamper your hens - with plants for foraging and shelter, rain-fed water bowls and eco-friendly lawns."
American Gardener
“Bloom’s obvious enthusiasm for good design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space for hens and humans to enjoy.”
Small Town Living.com
“Complete with gorgeous photos, diagrams, plans, and a very well written and easy to understand approach, you will want to get your hands upon this book if you have ever dreamed of incorporating chickens into your lifestyle.”
Sustainable Eats.com
“Jessi’s approach is unique in that she’s a landscape designer and a chicken owner.”
Diggin Food.com
“I’ve had chickens for four years and I wish that I could have had Jessi Bloom’s new book in the beginning.”
— Willi Galloway
NW Edible
“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.”
Living Homegrown.com
“The only book I have seen that tells you exactly how you can have your chickens AND your garden too.”
Horticulture Magazine
“A great basic guide for first-time chicken owners and chicken owner wannabes.”
New York Times Book Review

If your garden fantasies involve chickens, Jessi Bloom, author of FREE-RANGE CHICKEN GARDENS: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard (Timber Press, paper, $19.95), is here to make those dreams come true. Chickens bring out interesting characters. My new heroine is Elizabeth Zumwalt, a chicken whisperer, educator and entrepreneur who blogs about her family’s Bantam hens, sells eggs and gives half the proceeds to charity. She pulls a red wagon, topped with a chicken house, when she heads out to educate people about her birds. Elizabeth is 9 years old.

By the time you’re done with Bloom’s clever book, you’ll know almost as much about chickens as Elizabeth does. And maybe more about what chickens like than what your children do. You’ll be looking for bug logs and creating dust baths. You’ll know that chickens like to have mirrors hanging in their gardens — but take care with the angle, since they have eyes on the sides of their heads. There is no end to the vanity of a chicken.

“Experienced free-ranging chickens” — now that’s a real sign of the times; do chickens no longer have a tribal memory of roaming? — will know not to eat toxic berries, but Bloom is an expert guide for the untutored. Somehow, I’m sure that chickens prefer heirloom vegetables to any other variety. And while your flock may break free to cross the road, you’ll be relieved to learn that (unless they have an unfortunate encounter with a car) they’ll probably be no worse for the wear. Chickens don’t sweat.

Bloom genially celebrates geodesic domes and shingled coops with stone chimneys and even clean-lined modernist coops. She also writes about “naughty” chickens: “Chickens are social and hormonal creatures, and when we have them living in ways that are different from how they would live naturally, they are prone to behaviors that can be damaging to themselves or that are simply normal but just catch us off guard.” You might have thought she was talking about teenagers, but I now see that they’re easier to raise than chickens. I’m thinking . . . roast chicken with that rosemary?

— Dominique Browning

Backyard Poultry Magazine
"Exactly what we’ve been waiting for—the definitive guide to letting our chickens roam freely without incurring damage to our vegetable or flower gardens."
Natural Home and Garden

"Essential guide that will bring your dream home to roost."

Plant Talk blog - Valerie Easton
“A fun new book.”
San Francisco Chronicle - Brigid Gaffikin
"Exquisitely produced and artfully photographed."
Garden Rant - Amy Stewart
“Everything you want to know about gardening with chickens…is here."
The American Gardener - Genevieve Schmidt
Bloom's obvious enthusiasm for creative design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space that hens and humans can inhabit harmoniously.
The Oregonian - Kym Pokorny
“Solves the dilemma of having free-range chickens and a vegetable garden.”
Diggin Food.com - Willi Galloway
“I’ve had chickens for four years and I wish that I could have had Jessi Bloom’s new book in the beginning.”
New York Times Book Review - Dominique Browning

If your garden fantasies involve chickens, Jessi Bloom, author of FREE-RANGE CHICKEN GARDENS: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard (Timber Press, paper, $19.95), is here to make those dreams come true. Chickens bring out interesting characters. My new heroine is Elizabeth Zumwalt, a chicken whisperer, educator and entrepreneur who blogs about her family’s Bantam hens, sells eggs and gives half the proceeds to charity. She pulls a red wagon, topped with a chicken house, when she heads out to educate people about her birds. Elizabeth is 9 years old.

By the time you’re done with Bloom’s clever book, you’ll know almost as much about chickens as Elizabeth does. And maybe more about what chickens like than what your children do. You’ll be looking for bug logs and creating dust baths. You’ll know that chickens like to have mirrors hanging in their gardens — but take care with the angle, since they have eyes on the sides of their heads. There is no end to the vanity of a chicken.

“Experienced free-ranging chickens” — now that’s a real sign of the times; do chickens no longer have a tribal memory of roaming? — will know not to eat toxic berries, but Bloom is an expert guide for the untutored. Somehow, I’m sure that chickens prefer heirloom vegetables to any other variety. And while your flock may break free to cross the road, you’ll be relieved to learn that (unless they have an unfortunate encounter with a car) they’ll probably be no worse for the wear. Chickens don’t sweat.

Bloom genially celebrates geodesic domes and shingled coops with stone chimneys and even clean-lined modernist coops. She also writes about “naughty” chickens: “Chickens are social and hormonal creatures, and when we have them living in ways that are different from how they would live naturally, they are prone to behaviors that can be damaging to themselves or that are simply normal but just catch us off guard.” You might have thought she was talking about teenagers, but I now see that they’re easier to raise than chickens. I’m thinking . . . roast chicken with that rosemary?

The Republican Journal

"This well-thought-out and thoroughly comprehensive new book covers the topic so efficiently and completely that it is bound to become the gardener's go -to reference when chickens are the focus."

TheGardenCoop.com
“Jessi Bloom’s new book is as lush and inspiring as the chicken paradise featured on the front.”
Dominique Browning
…Bloom is an expert guide for the untutored.
—The New York Times Book Review
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781604692372
  • Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 1/3/2012
  • Pages: 224
  • Sales rank: 78,072
  • Product dimensions: 7.90 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Kate Baldwin lives and gardens in Portland, Oregon. She has contributed to gardening books, newspapers, and magazines including Portland Monthly, where her column, Dig, and gardening blog, Plantwise, appear.

Jessi Bloom is an award-winning landscape designer whose work emphasizes ecological systems, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. She is a certified professional horticulturalist and certified arborist, as well as a long-time chicken owner with a free-ranging flock in her home garden.

Owner of Pacific Northwest–based landscape design-build firm N.W. Bloom — EcoLogical Landscapes, Jessi has been praised as an innovator in sustainable landscape design. Recognition for her work includes awards from the Washington State Department of Ecology, American Horticultural Society, Pacific Horticulture magazine, Sunset, 425 magazine, Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association, Washington Association of Landscape Professionals, and the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, including gold medals and the People’s Choice award.

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Table of Contents

introduction: 6

1 chickens and gardens-working together: 10

Incorporating Chickens into Your Garden

Chickens and Sustainability

Chickens and Your Lifestyle

Being a Good Neighbor

Seasonal Considerations

2 chickens in your garden: practical considerations: 36

Benefits of Free-Range Chickens

Keeping Your Plants Safe

Keeping Your Chickens Safe

Chicken Training and Acclimation

3 designing a chicken-friendly garden: 60

Creating a Plan

The Chicken Infrastructure

Other Permanent Elements

Choosing the Right Plants

Extra Elements for the Chickens

Sample Garden Plans

4 landscape materials for chicken gardens: 92

Hardscape

Softscape

5 plants with purpose: 112

Plants for Chicken Gardens

Food and Forage

Medicinal Plants

Poisonous Plants

Chicken-Resistant Plants

Colorful Seasonal Plants

Native Plants

Plants for Fragrance

Plants as Noise Barrier

6 innovative chicken housing: 146

Space Requirements

Mobile, Modular, or Stationary Coop?

Coop Necessities

Interior Design

Optional Items - Chicken Coop Style

Materials

Greenhouse Chicken Coop

Tractors and Arks

Geodesic Chicken Dome

Broody Box or Sin Bin

7 friends and foes of hens in the garden: 178

Predators and Pests

Predator Control and Deterrents

Other Garden Fowl

Livestock

Poultry Diseases and Parasites

Troubleshooting Common Chicken Problems

Injury in the Garden

When a Chicken Dies

afterword: 203

conversions and hardiness zones: 204

resources: 206

acknowledgments: 209

photo credits: 211

index: 212

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
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  • Posted May 8, 2012

    I just spent a long time perusing this book in the bookstore. It

    I just spent a long time perusing this book in the bookstore. It's beautiful and very informative. I've ordered a copy, and cannot wait to receive it. We live in a very small city, with a very small yard, and this lovely book has so many tips and bits of information as well as entertainment, not to mention being filled with wonderful pictures. I had wondered just how to arrange my gardens now that the hens have de~greened the whole thing, and I have lots of ideas to explore now! Highly recommeded!

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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    Posted May 5, 2013

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