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Children's Books
Chickens are comical and some of the best childrens' book authors and illustrators have created books that are fun to have. Here are my favorites. Please contact me if you have a suggestion to add to this list!
How the Ladies Stopped the Wind
by Bruce McMillan, illustrated by Gunella
2007
This is the second book by McMillan and Gunella about the ladies of Iceland and their chickens. The chickens are crucial to the plot as "It was the chickens' job to make fertilizer for the trees. They did their job very well."
Obviously, the author knows chickens!
Chicky Chicky Chook Chook
by Cathy MacLennan
2007
This is just the sort of book that you want to read again and again to the very young who are just beginning to enjoy sounds and language. "Splitter, splatter. Wet. Wet. Wetter." There are darling yellow chicks and hens with striped and polka-dotted combs. They're not anatomically correct - but they've got that silly chicken look.
Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke
1988
Minerva Louise reminds me of our hen Snowball -- she's inquisitive, cheerfully innocent and totally silly. Janet Morgan Stoeke has written 11 delightful picture books about this hen. Perfect for children, but also welcome in any household that loves chickens.
These are all of the Minerva Louise books:
A Hat for Minerva Louise Minerva Louise at the Fair Minerva Louise at School Minerva Louise and the Red Truck A Friend for Minerva Louise Rainy Day Minerva Louise The Mixed-Up Hen Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs Hide-and-Seek
Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
2002
Jan Brett is an author/illustrator of beautiful children's books. She also raises Silkies and is involved in a Bantam Club. Daisy Comes Home is about a chicken in China who gets lost and eventually finds her way back home.
The Problem With Chickens by Bruce McMillan
illustrated by Gunnella
2005
This is a very funny and silly book about chickens in a village in Iceland. There are charming illustrations of large women in aprons having tea with chickens and exercising with chickens, and, you'll have to read the story to believe it, letting themselves on ropes down a cliff and collecting chicken eggs. Delightful.
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
(Many illustrator-authors)
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2006
Fourteen talented children's book illustrators come up with answers to this age-old question. Very funny.
Also worth finding are:
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
Adult Books
Extraordinary Chickens Extra Extraordinary Chickens by Stephen Green-Armytage
These two books feature photographs of some very interesting chickens. They are set against dark, neutral backdrops so the utter weirdness and personality of these birds comes through.
Rooster by Phillippe Schlienger, Jean-Baptiste Harang
2005
Like the Extraordinary Chickens book, this one has photographs that do justice to the oddness and big personalities of roosters.
Fun Sites
This chicken group in Phildadelphia has put together a Web site with lots of useful information AND a really fun page of silly stuff, including youtube videos and games.
Historic poultry photos from England
Egg Cups This is a delightful diversion for those of us who love eggs. Everyday, this Spanish blogger posts a photos of a few of the egg cups from her collection. Addictive.
Blogs
HenBlog My hen blog fills you in on what's going on with my girls.
Christine Heinrichs, author of How to Raise Chickens, has a blog that focuses on rare breeds and issues important to small flock keepers. It's good to check in and read what she has to say.
This British blogger writes about her hens, garden and tortoise - what a fine combination!
Chicken Web Cams
See my chickens at HenCam.
Here's a list of worldwide chicken cams compiled by a chicken fancier (and hen cam owner) in Germany. His list is up-to-date and comprehensive.
Chicken Art (Not chickens that paint, but artists who do chickens!)
As we all know, chickens appear on all sorts of tschotkas, from salt and pepper shakers to tea towels. But chickens also inspire artists to create fine art. Of course, if you paint a chicken, there's going to be that element of humor or quirkiness. Here are some artists that love chickens:
Mary Galli is in the Boston area and paints exhuberant, colorful, chickens.
Sandy Cyr paints chickens in Somerville, Mass.
S.V. Medaris uses a range of techniques, from oils to prints, for her chicken art work. She's also inspired by farm dogs.
Katherine Plumer is the official artist for the American Poultry Association's American Standard of Perfection. Obviously, she knows her birds. She'll do custom portraits of your hens. (see, that sort of indulgence isn't limited to dog lovers.
The Open Fields School in Vermont holds a yearly benefit auction of painted goose eggs. They give the eggs to artists and illustrators who decorate/paint them and send them back. Glorious! 'll be bidding next year.
Celia Hart, in the UK, sells lovely prints of her hens. She also blogs.
The Painter Who Loved Chickens by Olivier Dunrea, is a children's book about, well, exactly what the title says. It is absolutely charming. The picture of the Silkie is worth the price of the book.
Are you an artist who loves chickens? email me!
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