Keeping poultry and rabbits on scraps has been republished by Penguin Books due to public demand!

Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps according to the paper today was a ‘war time’ best selling handbook, that’s making a come back due to the ‘credit - crunch’.

The book was first published in 1941 as Nazi Germany was attempting to starve Britain into submission.

Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps taught people how to raise chickens and other animals for eggs and meat, by feeding them on left-overs from the kitchen.

The book - which originally cost one shilling and sixpence when first published by Penguin Books, is apparantly being republished by Penguin Books due to demand.

I haven’t yet seen a copy of this book, although I have just bought one via amazon - for the link to the book, click Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on scaps.

This post was a while back and my copy has arrived… To see the review page click - Keeping Chickens On A Budget.

At the time of writing, new copies of Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on scaps are available for £4.89, or second hand copies can be purchased for as little as £2.36. Although the publisher said that their decision to republish the Keeping Chickens on a budget book, was partly taken due to the prices of the original on some websites!

According to the paper, the chicken keeping on scraps book makes ‘gruesome’ reading for those of us more used to living a 21st century lifestyle…

The keeping chickens on scraps book is 170 pages and apparently contains many images and illustrastions and is full of valuable advice for those who have now started keeping their own animals in an attempt to save money and stave off the credit crunch.

According to the Penguin Books website, Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps was issued in 1941, when the national crisis made it essential for every scrap of kitchen waste and spare time to be used for increasing the nation’s food resources, this book enabled the meagre official wartime rations to be supplemented in thousands of homes by a regular supply of eggs and meat, at a minimum of trouble and expense.

It now reappears, in response to many requests, to play its part in the hardly less urgent food-production drive of peacetime. Everything that the small-scale raiser of rabbits or of poultry, whether for egg-production or for table use, needs to know is here: buying, housing, feeding, breeding, diseases, are all fully dealt with by experts, the instructions being given in simple and practical language for the beginner.

Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps was originally reissued after the war, in 1949. Here it is once again, a facsimilie edition with all the delightful original illustrations and advice to keep your chickens and rabbits happy, whether they be in a city garden or roaming in a farm yard.

The paper goes on to describe various sections of the book using quotes from the authors Claude Goodchild and Alan Thompson; ‘In fact there is no known waste from human edible food which is harmful in moderation. Do not be content with using your own scraps; get others to save for you. There are plenty of people too busily occupied, or maybe some too lazy and unpatriotic to exert themselves and undertake any work of national importance…’

Ironically my purchase of Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps co-incides with my purchase of ‘Keeping Hens on a Budget‘, via the Wikaniko (We-Can-Eco) shopping site ‘garden’ section… Oh well, I suppose I’ll have two books to review in a few days when they arrive!

We added another son to our family on 14th November and named him Jacob. Jacob is doing well and weighed in at 7lbs 11oz.

Would you believe, our eldest - Toby, then two days later came down with Chicken Pox!

He’s recovered and gone back to school, but has passed it on to his brother Zach. Zach is unfortunately absolutely covered in chicken pox spots!

So we’ve been a bit busy, and haven’t had much time to spare to write a post recently. We’ve lots of chicken related news to update the site with, which I hope to upload over the next few days.

Speak soon.

Tim

The chicken keeping article spreads over two pages in the Mail on Sunday and states that thousands of city dwellers are rearing chickens at home - thanks to celebrity chefs who have highlighted the plight of battery farmed hens and championed home grown food.

The article then goes on to compare people keeping chickens in their gardens to the 70’s sitcom ‘The Good Life’!

The article is a fantastic read and mentions the recent Axminster Chicken Saga that I spoke of a few days ago.

The article mentions that the next issue of Country Smallholding magazine is publishing a seven page guide in it’s next issue.

I don’t know whether our 100 foot by 40 foot back garden allows us to class ourselves as ’smallholders’, but it definitely sounds worth getting hold of the next issue to have a read.

Over the last few days I’ve posted on the chicken keepers in Axminster, who seem to be hitting the headlines in both local and national newspapers.

Check Cock-A-Doodle-Don’t and Keeping Cockerels for the stories.

Anyway, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s company (River Cottage) have responded with the following comment;

“River Cottage continues to support and encourage everyone to grow, or produce, more of your own food.

“We believe that this is not only good for individuals, but also a benefit for the wider community.

“Keeping chickens for eggs and/or meat at home is one way to do this. But we would always advocate a responsible attitude to both the health and welfare of the livestock - their environment, as well as consideration for your neighbours within your neighbourhood.”

So as you see, a commonsense attitude to keeping chickens is what’s required - as I said on the post Keeping Cockerels.

Check out the article published in full in the Midweek Herald.

I wonder if this is going to be the end of the Axminster Chicken Saga?

I posted the other day about a news article appearing in a Devon website, regarding keeping cockerels and the trouble it seemed to be causing between neighbours and the local council.

This has now made national newspaper headlines in the Sunday Express and the blame has been ’laid’ firmly at the feet of the success of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recent chicken keeping programme on tv.

The article expands on the chicken keeping craze in that particular area of Devon, due to the close proximity to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the fact that he has a organic produce shop in the area.

With the supposed credit crunch biting ordinary families food budget, coupled with rising prices at the supermarket; there is bound to be a increase in families keeping chickens, and also I think a increase in articles appearing in local and national newspapers about back yard chicken keepers causing neighbour disputes.

Seems like there’s a lot of ‘feather rustling’ and ‘crowing’ over nothing down in that area of the country!

Keeping Cockerels

We are surrounded by chicken keeping neighbours, so perhaps for us the problem wouldn’t be so bad; but some people seem to object to the ‘noise’ of a cockerel crowing.

Some councils have been known to threaten those keeping cockerels with noise related ASBOs!

The thing that surprises me about this cockerel keeping problem, is that it was whilst staying in rural Normandy on a recent holiday to France, that my last chicken keeping barriers got broken down.

The reason being was the house we stayed in was next door to a small holding and we awoke in the morning to the idyllic noises of cows, sheep and chickens. But first up in the morning was obviously the neighbour’s cockerel…

Now I don’t know whether it’s because we usually wake up to the sound of traffic on the road, due to people making the early morning run into work; or because we live just outside the M25 and if you stop to listen you always seem have the gentle background hum of the motorway - the joys of living in the suburbs eh?!

One of the first things we always notice when going on holiday to more rural areas is the ‘noise’ of the quiet. When you’re used to background noise, the quiet can sometimes be very loud and difficult to get used to! 

So we settle in to the new routine and get used to the quiet, the next thing we notice is the early morning cockerel crowing. Now for me, the sound of a cock crowing is nothing short of idyllic. It tells me I’m on holiday!

If given a choice between the early morning sound of vehicles on the road or the early morning sounds of a cockerel crowing, I know which I’d choose ‘hands down’ each time.

But once again back to the point in question, I do not know whether the neighbours (especially the non chicken keeping neighbours) would appreciate us keeping a cockerel with our chickens.

It does seem a little ironic that the newspaper site entry in question about keeping cockerels is in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s home area of the UK.

According to the report one person is quoted as saying; “I think people are being petty and everybody is guilty of it. I just wish everybody would get on with each other. It would be a much more pleasant life if they did.”

It looks like Hugh’s inspirational and successful keeping chickens at home television series has caused the local council’s beuracrats all manner of problems!

Although in my opinion it would makesense to be considerate of one’s neighbours, sound them out about your plans on keeping a cockerel and perhaps give them the occasional box of eggs!

One thing’s for certain though, with the rise of suburban chicken keepers and potentially therefore a rise in people also keen on keeping cockerels, neighbours may have to get used to the sound of something other than mechanically propelled vehicles in the morning.

Chicken Keeping Pensioner Threatened With Eviction

The 85 year old pensioner is question is a gentleman named Ronald Lewis; Mr Lewis has been keeping chickens in the back garden of his house.

He also has three beehives and grows his own vegetables - so he sounds like a thoroughly enterprising chap as far as I’m concerned!

Mr Lewis has been supplimenting his old age pension by becoming more self sufficient, and because of rocketing food prices in the high st shops has been doing quite nicely with his home grown food and produce - fresh eggs from the two chickens he keeps, honey from the bees and vegetables from his garden.

Rather than applauding Mr Lewis’ ingenuity in ‘providing’ for himself, it seems like the housing authority have decided that chicken keeping is in breech of his tenancy agreement and have threatened him with eviction.

They’ve also said according to the article that chicken keeping poses a ‘health risk’… Ye gods!

However this heavy handed stance has left Mr Lewis undaunted; he said he’s determined to ‘go all the way to court’ inorder to be able to keep the chickens in his garden.

To read the full article as it appears in the Journal, please click Chicken Keeping Pensioner Threatened With Eviction.