Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius

Book Review by Lynn R. Miller

I absolutely love chickens and ducks and geese! There, I stand exposed. And this book I am reviewing, I love it, too!! It is both a wondrous and wonderful book, especially if you are a poultry fancier who needs to know the what (duck, goose, chicken etc.), why (as in why would you want to raise this breed) and whose-its (as in crazy tidbit info i.e. coloration nomenclature) of individual species – or maybe you just want to be able to see how they are different. As you may note by the copyright date, this is not a new book but it deserves careful attention as a reference volume. It will have a long shelf life. It features well over one hundred excellent color photos and is expertly organized for easy use.

As for the esoterica laced throughout, here’s an example from the sidebar entitled “The Mystery of the Araucanas:”

“The Araucana chicken breed provides a great example of the way thoughts are challenged in the scientific world and how our understanding of history can change over time.

“There is a great deal of debate about the Araucana and its progenitors, the Collonca and Quetero birds, domestic races that were kept by tribal groups in different areas of Chile. The debate centers on whether these birds predated the arrival of Columbus in the New World, and if so, where they came from.

“… Dr Carl Johannessen, professor emeritus in the geography department at the University of Oregon, is a strong proponent of the view that there were transoceanic contacts between Chinese and Amerindians before Columbus came to the new world. ‘Chickens are just one of about 125 species of plants and animals that appear to have moved between Asia and South America before Columbus came.”

Did you know that Crele, Porcelain, Red Pyle, and Self Blue are among the common color patterns in chickens? Did you know that Aseel, Penedesenca, Jaerhon, Kraienkoppe, Appenzeller and Vorwerk are all chicken breeds?

Get this book, enjoy the heck out of it and then make sure you put it someplace safe cause you are gonna want to refer to it again many times. (And so will your grandchildren.) LRM

Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds
copyright 2007 Carol Ekarius, ISBN 978-1-58017-667-5
$24.95 softcover, www.Storey.com