It won’t be long before chickens are the new family dog, according to Kathy Shea Mormino, aka the Chicken Chick. She may be on to something. More than one percent of U.S. households now raise chickens. Plus, the USDA estimates that by 2019, urban chicken flocks will increase by 400 percent. Mormino is attuned to this growth as she answers questions for her 743,000 followers on her Facebook page. She’s plugging a book, too.
Source: Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2017.
Her new book, “The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Backyard Chickens: Simple Steps for Healthy, Happy Hens,” (Voyaguer Press; $19.99) is detailed guide with a straightforward theory: “Chickens are best served by keeping their care simple,” Mormino writes in the introduction.
INSIGHTS: Sources like Mormino and countless others who may or may not be poultry husbandry experts shell out cartons of advice to poultry owners. Science-based or not, their recommendations affect countless birds. Bird owners may query vet teams about their guidance. Please remember, most land grant universities have Extension poultry specialists on staff. They have countless fact sheets, brochures and other materials that can help vet teams and clients. They’d likely be willing to put on a workshop for clients, as well.
Just be aware that most extension poultry specialists are more focused on large production poultry operations, not small backyard chickens as pets. I’m not knocking extension services, I am a member of my local extension. I’m just sharing my personal experience of not being able to find the resources I needed from either my either my local extension or local farm supply store. That is why I had to start my own classes that focused on backyard chickens as valued partners in a permaculture based system. My model was the European idea of chickens being vital to a healthy garden and enhancing the backyard by being the “living flowers of our garden.”