I've been researching chicken tractors for the future. I know there are two books out that are supposed to be very good. They are "Chicken Tractors" by Andy Lee and "Pastured Poultry Profits" by Joel Salatin. Which is the best book to buy, in your opinion?

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 31, 2001

Answers

I have the chicken Tractor by Andy Lee-not finished with it, but it is good. I have ordered the one by Salatin, but I am reading his other two books-You can Farm and Salad Bar Beef, and if the quality of those two is any indication-pastured Poultry Profits will be excellent. If you can only order one-well I guess it might depend on how you plan on using the tractors-in your garden to improve your soil or actually put the birds out on forage.

Better yet-what about ordering them from the library-even if your local library doesn't have it, they might be able to get it through the library loan system.

Another thought would be to check out the email list at yahoogroups calld Pastured Poulry-and ask the people there. They are a helpful bunch, and there are also abut a bajillion websites on how this can be done.

Have fun! We are so enjoying it-we have our firt pen built and the little chicks are in a booder for a couple of weeks yet-and then out they go! We decided to do this for our broilers this year, and if it goes well, expand next year. And we even are doing it for our pullets we are getting going as replacement layers.

Hope that helps, Sarah

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), May 31, 2001.

Try www.discountnewagebooks.com they have all 4 books for around $7.00-$10.00 each plus reasonable shipping. You can order all 4 for about the retail cost of 1 of Joel Salatins books at retail. I have ordered several from them and had good luck.

These books are older copies or damaged/close outs but all 8 books I have received have been in good condition.

Both Joel S. and Andy L. books are very good.

Thanks, Todd L.

-- Todd Leeman (todd.leeman@colehaan.com), May 31, 2001.

I have both books. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. Read them both. I have all 3 of Salatin's books and think that the Pastured Poultry book is the best of the 3. Salatin's book is geared more towards broiler production, and on a larger scale than Andy's system. One caveat- I question the efficacy of Salatin's method for most people. I did the math and to make $25,000 PROFIT in 6 months you'd have to butcher a heck of a lot of birds- and SELL them. But, I think his method of raising birds is sound and definitely worth looking into. I use chicken tractors for my laying hens and they are fantastic (more of Andy's method here, using deep litter in the garden beds). I have the best garden ever this year, thanks to my chickens, and I hardly water (and my soil is nearly pure sand), and NEVER weed. Definitely check out the abovementioned site for books. I bought 2 of Salatin's from them and was very pleased. I bought one other book which had a ding in the spine, but the Salatin books were in mint condition.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), May 31, 2001.

I can't speak for the books, but I sure learned a lot by reading all of the past forum discussions. Built my own from info read here, and info read from site suggested here. Works great, and the Black Australorp pullets are so quiet that it's easy to hide them here in town. :-)

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), May 31, 2001.

Perhaps I should clarify my question more...sorry about that. Hubby and I know zilch about poultry. We thought we'd use chicken tractors to improve the garden area. We really could use specific plans on building them but we can improvise. I thought a few eggs would be nice, but we really don't consume too many as there is just the two of us. God bless!

-- Ardie from Wi (ardie54965@hotmail.com), June 01, 2001.

For garden scale use buy Andy Lee's book. It has the plans in the book. I checked the above mentioned site and they still had it for $5.99 + a couple bucks for shipping.

Todd

-- Todd L. (leeman@megalink.net), June 02, 2001.

I want to thank everyone for their help! I've ordered Andy's book through that discount place mentioned. Thank you and I'll let you all know what we think of ot.

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), June 02, 2001.