Perhaps you know that it's perfectly allowable to keep up to four chickens at your home in San Francisco. But do you know how to keep them happy? If you could use some advice, Minnie Rose Lovgreen can tell you all you need to know to ensure your chickens "purr, bk, bllpp and crrrk" with contentment.
From nesting, to egg laying, to hatching, to the care of chicks, and the psychology of hens, Minnie Rose Lovgreen's book Recipe For Raising Chickens is charming, practical and down-to-earth. Contents include chapters on "The Broody Hen and Her Eggs," "Baby Chick Care," "Hen and Chicks," "Room and Board for Chickens," "Eggs" and the "Virtues of the Bantam Hen." All the basics really, but her key piece of advice?: "The main thing is to keep them happy."
Lovgreen's years of experience on the farm and with her own brooding hens began on her family's 200-acre farm in Norfolk County, England where she was the eighth of 19 children. At 11, she hired herself out as a 'mother's helper' and from then on made her own way in the world.
In 1912 she and one of her brothers decided to improve their prospects in Canada and booked passage on the Titanic. Impatient with the ship's delayed departure, they instead left on another Canada-bound ship, arriving safely after all.
Eventually Lovgreen found her way to Bainbridge Island, Washington where she met and married Danish-born Leo Lovgreen, who worked in a local dairy. Together they saved and worked to build their own dairy, starting with six cows on a rented nine-acre farm. The dairy eventually grew to 170 acres and prospered for 30 years. Leo and Minnie and their two sons delivered milk all over the island "for ten cents a quart with half a pint of cream on top."
In 1975 neighbor Nancy Rekow recorded Minnie Rose's memories and in April of that year came out with a hand-lettered booklet containing Minnie Rose's "simple, economical ways with eggs, chicks, broody hens, laying hens and general chicken care." The first run of 1,000 copies quickly sold out and later that same year Minnie Rose Lovgreen's Recipe For Raising Chickens went to a larger publisher and a second printing of 20,000 copies.
Minnie Rose died the same year her book came out, but her little book has been a treasure and delightful guide to chicken lovers ever since. In 2009 it went to a third printing and today is available across the country -- and online.
Consider is a great resource if you decide to finally care for a few chickens in your own backyard.
Minnie Rose Lovgreen's Recipe For Raising Chickens
Author: Minnie Rose Lovgreen
Edited by Nancy Rekow and Chaya Siegelbaum, Illustrated by Elizabeth Hutchison Zwick
ISBN: 9780982455395
Publisher: NW Trillium Press
www.nwtrilliumpress.com
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