Chicken Resources on the Web
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Here are sites that provide information about different
breeds of chickens as a primary focus. Many provide additional information and
advice as well.
- Barry Koffler's FeatherSite
- A colorful, well illustrated, and informative site that remains the best
place to begin looking for information about chickens. It has a strong section on different breeds (called an "oddly annotated tour").
- Breeds of Poultry from the Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University
- Within the frame is the chicken section. Amount
of text provided for each breed varies widely. Many but not all breed pages are illustrated.
- Poultry Pages:
Chicken Breeds
- A British site that provides what it calls basic chicken facts for the
beginner. Nicely designed site, it is full of information and some tips,
plus illustrations.
- Poultry Keeper: Chicken Breeds
- A British site that provides illustrations and detailed information about poultry found among the UK standard. In addition, the site includes articles and other useful resources for the poultry hobbyist, no matter where they live.
- Omlet UK: Chickens
- Another British site that provides all kinds of poultry information, including an illustrated pages for chicken breeds commonly (or rarely) found in the UK.
- The DOM_BIRD Web site
- Includes a breed encyclopedia, plus photos, recipes and nutrition information,
and several submitted articles about poultry science and farming. Formerly
associated with the Palm Beach County Poultry Fanciers Association
Since several other people have taken the trouble of
compiling and maintaining current lists of hatcheries and breeders, it makes
more sense to link to them than to reproduce their efforts. One missing from most lists is the hatchery closest to us A&J Farms/Domani Ranch.
- Hatcheries & Breeders
- FeatherSite: Hatcheries
and Poultry Equipment Supply Houses
- The Poultry Connection Hatcheries and Suppliers Lists: USA
- Hatcheries (Small-scale Production Links), from University of Minnesota's Poultry U.
Most of the breed information sites above contain many images of chickens. The sites below have paintings or photographs as their main focus or are especially well illustrated.
- Diane Jacky's Art Gallery.
- Diane Jacky's paintings can be found in the catalogs of leading hatcheries
and have been published in the American Poultry Association's Standard
of Perfection. Hundreds of her images are for sale through cafepress.com.
Her images can also be found on the online catalogs for Murray
McMurray and Ideal Poultry. There are many other places
you can find Ms. Jacky's art on the Web, as well, but, unfortunately, her
pictures are not always credited to her.
- Johan Opsomer's Fancy Poultry Gallery
- Photos of standards and bantams from European poultry shows
- FeatherSite
- I will mention Barry Koffler's site again, because
it is full of poultry photography, including photographs of baby
chicks.
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- American Poultry Association
- Includes membership, show and exhibitor information, a health series, and
a current list of breed classifications.
- American Bantam Association
- Includes membership information, news and articles.
- Poultry Club of Great Britain
- Includes news about shows, exhibitions, and other events, plus information,
advice, and images on breeds and other poultry topics.
- Society for the
Preservation of Poultry Antiquities
- A relatively new website, still building content.
- The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
- Not just for chickens.
Sites listed here are those with an emphasis on care,
health, and flock management and other advice about poultry. Some may include
information about the different breeds as well. I have limited the selection of sites to those whose primary purpose is informative not commercial.
- Incubation and Embryology
from the University of Illinois Extension
- A site of lesson plans and resources packed with chicken and egg information.
Included is an all-on-one-page History
of Chicken Breeds
- Ohio State's Ohioline:
Farm: Livestock: Poultry
- More than a dozen extension fact sheets with information on poultry health
and management.
- UConn's Poultry Pages
- Extension pages, with a nice one on incubation.
- Virginia
Cooperative Extension's Information Resources: Poultry
- Another good source for information. Titles that caught my eye include "Management
Requirements for Laying Flocks," "Why Have My Hens Stopped Laying?"
- The West Virginia
Poultry Extension Web Page.
- Designed to provide educational and informational materials related to poultry
production, consumer education, and other related poultry topics, this site
provides plenty of its own fact sheets plus many links to other online resources.
- UC Davis's Poultry Web Page:
- Publications & Small Flock & Game Bird Information include leaflets and fact sheets on topics such as candling, biosecurity, health, and feeding.
- Queensland. Department of Primary
Industries. Poultry.
- Extension service-esque advice on poultry health, as well as production.
- Loren Hadley's The Coop
- The Coop provides many resources in its classroom, library, show schedule,
directory, and other sections.
One of the more useful sections is The Classroom
@ The Coop.
- BackYard Chickens Forum
- Good place for backyard chicken enthusiasts to give and get advice.
- Mother Earth News Chicken
and eggs page
- A compendium of articles with the homesteader and small operation chicken
farmer in mind. It's started a campaign advocating the nutritional benefits
of pastured poultry and free range chicken eggs.
- Greg Davies's The Chook Shed
- An Australian site both fun and informative. Information and illustrations of breeds, plus advise and tips on raising chickens.
- Raising Chickens 2.0, a permaculture article by Paul Wheaton
- Advice on making life easier: no more scraping/shoveling/scrubbing chicken poop; almost eliminating feed costs; and establishing a system where the chickens don't keep you stuck on the farm.
- Robert Plamondon
- This Oregon poultry farmer has answers and advice and opinions about all
manner of poultry-related topics, including free ranging and pastured poultry.
- Chicken Keeping
- Terry Golson's page of fun, advice, recipes, and recommendations, plus excerpts from a farmstead cookbook and a HenCam Blog.
- Mad City Chickens
- Information, advocacy, advice and photos from a group of pro-poultry people
from Madison, WI, where, because of the group's effort, single-family homes
now have the right to raise poultry in the back yard.
- The Chicken
Project
- Along with photo essays, this site provides plans and details of an attractive
coop designed
to house up to 10 chickens.
- The late Douglas Adams' Chicken
Theory
- Well, perhaps this doesn't provide any helpful information, but it is technical
and about chickens.
- See both the University of Michigan's Making
of America and Cornell University's Making
of America and Core
Historical Literature of Agriculture series, as well as Google Books. Some works of special interest include:
-
- Mrs. Elrington Douglas Arbuthnott. The henwife: her own experience in her own poultry-yard. T.C. Jack, 1868.
- A popular enough guide in England to go through at least seven editions.
- Geo. P. Burnham. The
History of the Hen Fever: a Humorous Record. Boston: J. French and
company, 1855.
- Before there was Frank Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles, the hoola hoop, beany
babies, or Pokemon, there were chickens. This classic book describes the fad
that took the world by storm after the introduction of some exotic breeds
of chickens in the early 19th Century. Available through University of Michigan's
Making of America series.
- William Cook. Practical poultry breeder & feeder: or How to make poultry pay. Office of the Journal of Horticulture, 1882.
- A British advice book, with a lengthy section on cross breeding.
- "Easy-On" Caponizing Set
Instruction Book. Chicago: Sears, Roebuck, and Co., 1922.
- Available as a Web page and a pdf file (tools not included), these instructions
are provided by the Palm Beach County Poultry Fanciers Association.
- Charles Wyllys Elliott. "The
Poultry Lovers." The Galaxy. Volume 8 (July 1869): pp. 70-82.
- An essay on poultry and poultry farmers that is part hommage and part informational.
There is a short discussion comparing breeds, but in 1869 there were fewer
to discuss. The author does add an extra consideration among the breeds --
cockfighting ability. Available through Cornell University's Making
of America series.
- Felch, Isaac K. Poultry
culture: how to raise, manage, mate and judge thoroughbred fowls. Chicago
:W. H. Harrison, 1885.
- A pioneer in the promotion of poultry production.
- Milo M. Hastings. The
Dollar Hen. Syracuse: National Poultry Publishing Company, 1911.
- Hastings wrote this to assist "in placing the poultry business on a
sound scientific and economic basis" and "to help the poultryman to make money,
not to spend it." From Project Gutenberg.
- Frederick Bruce Hutt. Genetics
of the Fowl. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1949.
- Dated, but useful, scientific look at what makes up a breed. Includes information
on combs, skin, plumage, and eggs. Available through Cornell University's Core Historical Literature of Agriculture series.
- Harry Lamon. The Mating and Breeding of Poultry. New York: Orange Judd, 1923, c1920.
- Covers both principles and practices of breeding, and provides descriptions and advice concerning every breed then accepted to the standard. Available through Cornell University's Core Historical Literature of Agriculture series.
- Harry Lamon. Poultry Breeding and Selection. Washington, DC: Lamon, 1932.
- Lamon was Senior Poultryman for the National Poultry Institute. This book was written as a text for a course, and each chapter is a lesson. Available through Cornell University's Core Historical Literature of Agriculture series.
- Harry Lamon. Practical Poultry Production. St. Paul: Webb, 1920.
- A complete guide to poultry raising by the developer of the Lamona breed, from breeding to feeding, butchering to marketing. "Available through Cornell University's
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
series.
- Kansas State University makes available its archive of historical
bulletins, circulars, and reports as PDFs.
- Many are related to chickens.
- Frank L. Platt. The American Breeds of Poultry: Their Origin, History of Their Development, the Work of Constructive Breeders and how to Mate Each of the Varieties for Best Results. American Poultry Journal, 1921.
- The subtitle describes the book well. The number of breeds included is limited.
- John Henry Robinson. First Lessons in Poultry Keeping: First Year Course. Farm-Poultry, 1905. First Lessons in Poultry Keeping: Second Year Course. Farm-Poultry, 1906. Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. Ginn, 1912.
- Some classic textbooks.
- Standard-bred Poultry. 1912.
- Published by the International Textbook Company for International Correspondence Schools, the volume has much detail on individual breeds and is nicely illustrated in color.
- U. S. Department of Agriculture.Farmers
Bulletin No. 51: Standard Varieties of Chickens, 1897.
- Descriptions and illustrations of thoroughbred chickens from more than a
century ago. Available through Chickenscope,
a site from the University of Illinoisw that includes many topics related
to chickens and eggs developed in cooperation with a group of Illinois schools.
- G. C. Watson. Farm
Poultry; a Popular Sketch of Domestic Fowls for the Farmer and Amateur.
9th edition. New York: Macmillan Company, 1919.
- Watson provides in depth descriptions
of breeds divided up in categories of egg, meat, general-purpose, and fancy.
In addition there are chapters on housing, feeding, breeding, diseases and
enemies. Available from GoogleBooks.
HEALTH
AND DISEASE
- Merck Veterinary Manual
has a lengthy section on poultry.
- Avian Disease
Fact Sheet from the Virginia Cooperative Extenstion's Information Resources.
- Diseases and Pests of Chickens guide is available as pdf documents from the Mississippi State University Department of Poultry site.
- Penn State University Extension Health and Disease
- An illustrated step-by-step guide and advice by Melvin L. Hamre on home
processing of poultry from Minnesota cooperative extension.
- Slaughtering
Chickens is an illustrated talk-through from The
Farm at Morrison Corner
- How to butcher
a chicken in 20 minutes or less ...while leaving the carcass and feathers
intact! [how to skin a bird], by Roger Grim (from Backwoods Home Magazine)
- Global Flyfisher has a page on chickens that concentrates on skinning them properly for purposes of using the feathers for tying flies.
This page authored and maintained by: John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu),
Sage Hen Farm, Lodi, NY.
Last modified: Memorial Day 2012
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chlinks.html