Recipe for Raising Chickens

I was sent this lovely little book by Minnie Rose Lovgreen and became enamored with it. I have been raising chickens for 10 years and naturally wanted to check it out.

Minnie Rose Lovgreen was born in 1888 in England. After she married and moved to Washington, she and her husband started a dairy. She raised chickens for 60 years and wanted to write this book to help others raise chickens for as little cost as possible. Reading this book (It is a quick read.) is like being in the room with her and listening to her grandmotherly instructions.

If you have the space and your hometown allows chickens, I highly recommend raising chickens. Many cities allow hens but not roosters because of their noisy crowing. Chickens are fun to watch and raise, plus they supply you with lovely nutritious eggs.- eggs from happy healthy chickens instead of eggs from caged and crowded chickens.

According to Minnie Rose, all you need for 12 chickens is a 6 foot x 8 foot house. In my experience, a hen lays about 2 eggs every 3 days, so 12 hens would give you a good supply of eggs. The house should have a wooden floor, nesting boxes, and a roosting perch for them to sit on at night. You can let them out into the yard during the day as long as there are no dangerous dogs close by. Just about everything wants to eat chickens- some varieties of dog, raccoons, foxes. Generally they are safe during the day but must be closed inside their house at night.

If you have a rooster, your eggs will be fertilized and you may even have a broody hen that sets on the eggs to raise chicks. Minnie Rose calls the rooster “a sort of supervisor”. He finds food for the hens, he settles disagreements among the hens, and he protects them. I have three roosters and about 20 hens. Three roosters is usually two too many but these particular roosters have agreed on a pecking order. My alpha rooster, Pecker, tolerates the other two as long as they do not mount the hens very often. They are fairly sneaky, though, and manage to fertilize a few eggs anyway.

Minnie Rose gives lots of advice about how to keeps the hens happy and laying many eggs. She advices feeding and watering them at night so that they have food first thing in the morning, She says, “The main thing is to keep them happy.” If you want to know how to keep them happy, read Minnie’s book. It’s not difficult plus you will enjoy the chickens and their eggs. Mine eat kitchen scraps, especially loving green veggies. They will not eat onions, citrus, and mushrooms. You can buy grain for them at a feed store than sells farm supplies.


The whole family will enjoy raising chickens. Try it!