Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: Reflections on Keeping Chickens

Owning chickens is fast becoming the latest in metropolitan chic. If you can't own them, you'll still want to read about them-witness the recent success of books such as Extraordinary Chickens and Living With Chickens. Another book is soon to hit the poultry bestseller list: This hilarious account of a rookie poultry-owner's experience raising birds in his backyard. Move over Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt (both rumored to raise chickens), Martin Gurdon has written the first "chicken memoir" of its kind. Bound to be a classic, Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance follows the Gurdon family through the ups and downs of this wonderful hobby. In addition to providing eggs, the hens offer distractions from everyday life-BB has terrific telephone etiquette, the spirited but weak Yvette requires Gurdon to act as a personal trainer, and Wimpy is soon renamed Psycho when she's allowed to brood three of her eggs. The book chronicles the daily life of a chicken, including dust baths, brutal pecking-order rituals, gender-bending encounters, and, for its owner, the possibility of huge vet bills. The relationship between bird and human is by turns heartwarming and bewildering, but always entertaining. In fact, readers might even learn a thing or two about raising chickens in this lively book.

Martin Gurdon is a writer whose work has appeared in various newspapers and magazines.