Hentopia: Create a Hassle-Free Habitat for Happy Chickens; 21 Innovative Projects

by Frank Hyman

Overview

More eggs, less work! And more enjoyment for both the chickens and their keeper! That’s the promise of Frank Hyman’s Hentopia.

From the Vending Machine Feeder to the Refilling Rainwaterer, Hyman’s innovative building projects are designed to save time and money while keeping chickens safe, healthy, clean, and well fed. Featuring easy-to-follow instructions and colorful photos, the 21 projects for the chicken yard range from creative doorways, nest boxes, fencing, and roosts to a predator-proof pen, a “Chunnel” chicken run, and a sturdy but inexpensive coop made from wooden pallets. With a lively, humorous voice, Hyman generously shares his expert advice on all aspects of chicken-keeping. Requiring minimal previous carpentry experience and using many salvaged or found materials, Hentopia is within reach of every aspiring chicken-keeper.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612129952
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	12/11/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	35 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Frank Hyman is a certified mushroom forager who teaches mushroom identification to chefs, arborists, organic farmers, and the general public. His writing on foraging has appeared in Forbes, Paleo Magazine, and Hobby Farms. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Preface: My Wife Wanted Chickens

Part I: Chicken Habitat
1 Feed the Masses without Any Messes
2 Drink Up (Or Down)
3 The Hen Pen and a Chicken Corral
4 Enrich and Accessorize
Profile: Adventurer Hans Voerman’s Caribbean Hen Habitat

Part II: Ins and Outs of Chicken Coops
5 Doorways Four Ways
6 No-Burnout Cleanout and Ventilation
7 Building the Best Nest Box
Profile: Award-Winning Chef Suvir Saran's Heritage Breed Chickens

Part III: Backyard Building
8 Tips on Tools for Non-Carpenters
9 High-Quality, Low-Cost Materials
10 Coop Design
Profile: Author Amy Stewart’s First-Lady Chickens

Egg-cellent Questions
References and Resources
Metric Conversions and Equivalencies
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/15/2018

This lively read is a handy resource for chicken keepers, like having a happy, helpful neighbor to call on any time you need advice about the flock. While covering various aspects of raising chickens, it focuses more on inventive solutions for habitat and feeding than works such as Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, which provides extensive coverage of breeds and chicken care. Designer and freelance writer Hyman (Modern Farmer;Hobby Farms;Organic Gardening) excels in descriptions of fun building projects, delivered in accessible, entertaining prose. Looking to build a roost, nesting box, or fence? There's an exciting, affordable way to do it that only requires common hand tools. Concerned about predators? You can turn reclaimed materials into the ultimate secure fortress for your brood. Throughout, good ideas abound for making things easier in general and setting up everything so that any enterprising urban farmer can go on vacation, while relaxed, healthy hens have food, water, and safety in their absence. It strikes a rare mix of ingenuity and common sense that hits a sweet spot. VERDICT An excellent choice for urban farmers seeking a friendly paradise for their birds.—Dan McClure, Clatsop Community Coll. Lib., Astoria, OR

Library Journal

This is the book I wish I'd read when I started keeping chickens. Frank Hyman is so funny and personable that he has managed to write an extremely handy and detailed chicken-keeping manual that is also quite entertaining to read. More importantly, he's lived the backyard chicken lifestyle and solved every imaginable problem using nothing more than a few ordinary tools and some ingenuity. Whether you're dreaming of keeping chickens or already manage a flock of your own, you will be inspired to take on one of these projects—and your chickens will thank you.” — Amy Stewart, NYT bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants

“Having worked with Frank for nearly a decade and read dozens of his articles and columns, I always walk away with some new bits of information that I can put to use right away. Hentopia is no different. Frank’s creative projects are practical, well designed and easy to do and will make your everyday chicken-keeping chores a breeze. He’s a true zen master of poultry!” — Roger Sipe, Editor, Hobby Farms and Chickens magazines and HobbyFarms.com

“Practical, resourceful, and fun!” — Melissa Caughey, author of How to Speak Chicken and A Kids’ Guide to Keeping Chickens, and blogger at Tilly’s Nest

“Hentopia brings together practical DIY family flock keeping systems that decrease daily chores while at the same time keep costs down with innovative use of materials. It describes ways to allow chickens to have a high quality of life—including fresh grazing and foraging—while having protection from predators. From the chickens’ point of view this book is something to crow about!” — Patricia Foreman, Animal Scientist, Pharmacist, and author of City Chicks

From the Publisher