[scotelf]

While I am looking for a little piece of land I'd like to learn a wee bit more about chickens so that I am properly prepared to look after them. Can someone recommend a book or two please (for a complete beginner  )

[jacob and Georgina]

try amazon search for chicken keeping and read customer reviews i find them usefull!! always cheap on there too    good luck

[Cinderhills]

A simple little book I read before I got mine was called Henkeeping by Jane Eastoe in collaboration with the National Trust and Country Living.  It's a nice read and really got me in the mood.  Once I got my chickens I now buy Country Smallholding magazine which for a novice I find really useful.

[little blue]

there's a Haynes manual of chickens which I want to read !   and a "Dummies guide"

the Katie Thear books are good, use Amazon if only for ideas.... and look in your local library - our council website has a library search facility so you can see whats available before you go

I "inherited" a book that was my Grandad's - "Pictoral poulty keeping" but its older than me so ... 

[Sandy]

You can get so much info off the internet, I would not bother with books.

[sheila]

Every situation is different so I find that books are not much good, better to ask questions relating to your problem when it arises. I did however read a book recently which made me laugh. called "Hen and the art of chicken maintenance" by Martin Gurden.

[Fleecewife]

I think a good book is an excellent starting point for someone who is a complete beginner.  It teaches the basics then from there, once you get your birds, any problems can be aired on a group such as this. If you are a total newbie you need the most basic info such as housing, space, what hens to buy at what age, feeding, health, how to handle a chicken and so on and these beginners books are good at that.  Once you have your own hens you move on and develop your own ideas.
I started with Katie Thear (plus I grew up on a turkey farm so wasn't a total newbie) but have always felt the need for something in more depth, but just about anything you want to know will be aired at some point in Country Smallholding, which has a big poultry section (too big  )

Another idea is to visit other people who keep poultry and see what you like and what you don't about the way they do things.

[scotelf]

Thank you all. Think it might be Kate Thear then as that has been mentioned a couple of times. I like learning from the internet, but like the odd factual book for reading in bed at night as a change from fiction.
My friend has some rescued battery chickens which I look after when she is on holiday, along with the rest of her animal collection, so she will help me a little, but she's quite a novice too. Her chickens look miles better than when she first got them, at least they have feathers now! So she must be doing something right, and she gets an egg from each every day.