Hannah and Robert Litt started the Urban Farm Store in Portland, Oregon. I tried to look them up to add some color to this review but after half an hour of searching, it seems the store might have relocated and now closed. Wherever they are the Litt family moved with their chickens.

Farmers love some animals more than others. I have been with a dairyman who went into raptures over the feminine face of a cow we saw alongside the road. And a pig farmer who knows all about porcine ankles and which ones need wood floors and which ones are OK on cement. Horses, sheep, goats, and, of course chickens. Some people, like the Litts family, just love chickens.

I myself am indifferent to them, in part because I have outdoor cats who like to hunt, and the natural antagonism can't be denied – a friend kept a bunny in the glass-enclosed atrium of his house for years. His cats continued to sit outside and stare. I don't raise chickens but I know a lot about them and backyard poultry in general because of my work. My grandmother kept ducks for pocket money. I live in a foreign city that offers fresh slaughter facilities.

The Litts are keen to teach us about raising chickens organically, which is a good plan for backyard birds in an urbanish area but which might be a bit of a challenge for people farther out whose chickens are more likely to meet wild birds (carrying a range of diseases) or predators like foxes and coyotes.

Chickens are prone to dying and this book is intended to help prevent it, and although it's wordy folksiness gets a bit much by the end, I think you will get a lot of good ideas here, especially if you also pick up "A Chicken in Every Yard: The Urban Farm Store's Guide to Chicken Keeping" their book published in 2011.

A few more photos of equipment would have been helpful. I'm particularly interested in seeing nipple attachments for water founts for chicks, and the "electric hen" brood warmer. A photo of leg bindings (which I visualize as hobbles such as for goats) used on an aggressive hen would be good too to help us avoid binding too tight.

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A very good guide from A to Z for chickens in urban and suburban contexts. I liked that the author added a description of some species. Also, the book introduction is amazing.

This is a gem of a book for anyone who has chickens (or who wants to have chickens) in urban/ suburban situations and who are intent on caring for them as organically as possible. It is bursting with ideas and helpful solutions from the best breeds for the backyard, to fixing up coops, to brilliant and extremely thorough chapters on nutrition and health. I found essential information (that I had been unable to pick up online or by reading other books) about: boredom busting and how to deal with the pecking order, how to discourage rodents, how to detect potential health problems and how to deal with them.

The book makes for easy and smooth reading material, I was immediately sucked into the book (fascinating learning about the Kauai). The authors are true chicken experts that have tried and tested their suggestions and their creativity with it is contagious!

The photography is absolutely gorgeous, making the book beautiful to look at too!

Oh, how I wish I'd had this book when I got my first chickens! So much good information in here. A great overview of different chicken breeds, what a chicken needs to be happy and healthy, and more. Plus, this book goes far more in depth about natural health, making your own feed, tips and tricks for keeping a backyard flock. I'm glad to have this in my library and will be recommending it to all my chicken friends too. And it doesn't hurt that the photography is great!

I raised chickens for over 15 years on a small hobby farm in the foothills of NC so I’ve read my fair share of books on raising fowl. I was anxious to dive into this book and see what I could learn about keeping chickens in the city now that I live in coastal VA. The New Rules of the Roost is full of terrific ideas for anyone even remotely thinking about wanting to start a flock whether in city or country. The authors are comprehensive in their study of chickens and raising them with sustainable initiatives.

From choosing just the right breed of chicken for longevity, friendliness, egg production, to nutritional facts and desirable feed, to coop design and poop disposal, how to be a successful urban backyard chicken keeper will not be a problem after reading this book. But…it is a profusion of densely packed information that needs to be absorbed over time. I want a paperback copy of this book because I can see spending hours and hours combing its pages, planning how to establish a new flock as a city dweller, making copious notes and enjoying the full color photos of all the beautiful birds.

I was provided an electronic copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. Opinions are my own. No compensation has been received.

The founders of the Urban Farm Store in Portland have published their second useful guide to raising a happy and healthy flock of backyard chickens. Advice ranges from choosing breeds and providing successful shelter to health and feeding. The health section is extensive and includes advice on various illnesses and conditions and treating with natural remedies as well as pharmacologically. An appendix includes additional online resources. A welcome handbook for both the new chicken keeper and those with experience.

Great book for the beginning chicken mom (or dad). Lots of great information that you should research before you start with wonderful photos and personal experiences. A great book for a beginning homesteader!

The thing about having backyard chickens is that everyone who has them thinks they are an expert. If you go on the Internet there will be all sorts of advice, and a lot of it is what the people believe, even if it has proven to be false.

When I started out, now, six years ago, I had no clue about what to do with backyard chickens other than to keep them in the back yard. I didn't have coop for them, I kept them in the garage. I carried them to the backyard every day, and then carried them back at night. It was not ideal, to say the least. And the garage got very smelly.

The worst part of it was, although they were in the backyard, and making a racket, I didn't know how to listen to the difference between, we-are-having-a-good-time-eating bugs and oh-my-gosh-there-is-a-hawk-trying-to-eat-us-mommy, until it was too late, and two of my eight chickens had been killed.

Back then, there just weren't good books on chickens. Really, only that long ago, and there just weren't. So, I am please to say that this one is another great one, in a series of excellent backyard chicken books.

And this is truly about backyard chickens. For people who live in a house, in a suburb, not out on the farm, and not with thousands of acres. This has such good advice, such as what to do about chickens when you don't want your whole back yard covered with chicken poop. And other advice on what to feed your chickens.

What I like about this book is that it has little stories, such as the chicken poop, and how a client wanted to feed their chickens nothing but treats, and couldn't understand why they died on them. Practical information, set up in each to read chapters. Advice on what sort of grains to feed your chickens, that sort of thing.

This is a great book for the beginner, as well as someone who has had chickens for a while. Who know, you still might learn something.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.