Chickens in Your Backyard by Gail Luttmann, Rick Luttmann (1976, Paperback)

This is the book that got me started on my own flock of happy hens and roosters. The author gives you easy-to-follow, down-to-earth instructions for how to care for chickens, the housing they need, hatching eggs in incubators or under hens, choosing breeds, etc. An absolutely perfect book to help you to start keeping chickens -- whether you want them for meat, eggs, or just the joy of having them around. There's plenty of humor in the book, too -- after all, when you come right down to it, chickens are very amusing birds!