How to Speak Chicken: Why Your Chickens Do What They Do & Say What They Say

by Melissa Caughey

Overview

Best-selling author Melissa Caughey knows that backyard chickens are like any favorite pet — fun to spend time with and fascinating to observe. Her hours among the flock have resulted in this quirky, irresistible guide packed with firsthand insights into how chickens communicate and interact, use their senses to understand the world around them, and establish pecking order and roles within the flock. Combining her up-close observations with scientific findings and interviews with other chicken enthusiasts, Caughey answers unexpected questions such as Do chickens have names for each other? How do their eyes work? and How do chickens learn?

Foreword INDIES Silver Award Winner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612129112
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	11/28/2017
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	150,698
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Melissa Caughey is the award-winning author of A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens and the blog Tilly's Nest. She is a backyard chicken keeper, beekeeper, and gardener, She lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Preface
1  Chicken Translator at Your Service: Understanding What Your Chickens Are Saying
2  How to Behave in the Henhouse: Rules, Etiquette, and Social Graces
3  What Makes a Chicken Tick? Looking Past the Feathers
4  Hey, I'm No Birdbrain! Understanding Chicken Smarts
5  How Do You Feel? The Emotional Life of Chickens
For Further Reading
Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

From decoding squawks to mapping out flock hierarchies and dealing with squabbles in the henhouse, How to Speak Chicken is the ultimate guide to keeping all of your ducks – make that chickens – in a row.” — Country Living 

“Get to know what all the different 'bawks' mean and how to make your hens the most comfortable with a little help from this book.” — People.com

“A new spin on chickenese ready to drive any urban farming linguist mad as a wet hen with joy.” — Library Journal

“If you're even remotely thinking about raising chickens, or you know someone who is getting into a chicken keeping, get this book, you’ll learn so much about flock keeping.” — HGTV.com

“A true delight that is filled with love and plenty of gorgeous illustrations.” — Forbes.com

“Prepare to be surprised, delighted and humbled.” — Sy Montgomery, author of Birdology 
 
“A delightfully refreshing look at the backyard flock that transcends the basics of food, water, health, and shelter. Learn to listen to your chickens to know how they are doing. Learn their language, and you just might catch them talking about you!” — Hank Will, Editor-in-Chief, Mother Earth News

“Melissa's enthusiasm for chickens, like my own, knows no bounds. Chickens are both amusing and practical and, as you'll find out, they are also intelligent communicators ... if you are willing to learn their language! This book provides fascinating insight and practical tips for fowl fanciers everywhere.” — P. Allen Smith, television host, writer, and professional gardener

“I loved How to Speak Chicken.” — Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

From the Publisher

08/01/2017
As most urban flock keepers know, chickens have a dialect all their own. Lovingly observed, closely decoded, and expertly assembled over the course of countless coos, clucks, and buk-gaws, this title by gardener, blogger, and bee- and chicken keeper Caughey (A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens) details chicken communication and behavior while supplying abundant support material spanning the whimsical, scientific, and instructional. This book is a welcome complement to time-honored references such as Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens or The Backyard Chicken Bible but focuses on a narrower facet of husbandry while still covering general ground. Entertaining anecdotes about the author's birds and the broods of other farmers are balanced by a plethora of fun facts: Did you know that a hen's heart beats 400 times a minute or that her tongue is barbed? Ever heard the lowdown on tidbitting? Did you know that you can predict the color of a hen's eggs by examining her earlobes? There's so much to learn. VERDICT A new spin on chickenese ready to drive any urban farming linguist mad as a wet hen with joy.—Dan McClure, Seattle, WA

Library Journal