With more and more people taking up chicken keeping as a hobby, the poultry section of bookstore shelves has grown rapidly during the past year.
Many experts have offered their advice on the latest veterinary wisdom, modern housing options and scientifically proven feeds and mite treatments. But Minnie Rose Lovgreen's book is a different take on chicken keeping, with her top tip - 'keep them happy' - discovered through years of experience looking after her own poultry.
A Victorian Farm Girl
Minnie Rose Lovgreen was born in 1888 in an English village in Norfolk. She was the eighth of 19 children growing up on the 200-acre wheat farm, and aged 11 she left home to go into service as a housemaid.
In 1912, aged 24, she booked passage on the RMS Titanic to emigrate to the US. Fortunately, she grew restless waiting for the ship and left on an earlier one, finding work in Canada as a cook, maid, mother's help, and during World War 1 as a factory worker producing ammunition.
She married then divorced her abusive husband, then moved to the US in 1920, eventually settling in Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her second husband, where she lived and farmed for 55 years.
In Her Own Words
One of the most lovely things about the book is the style in which it is written. It reads as if Minnie Rose is standing talking about her birds, rather than being a list of instructions.
The reason for this style of writing is that the book was 'written' when Minnie Rose was in hospital with cancer. She dictated her advice to her friend, Nancy Rekow, in 1974, over a period of several days, then Nancy went away and transcribed the tapes, edited and hand-lettered the entire text.
She said: "Minnie Rose had always wanted to write a book on raising chickens, but was always too busy. I took the ferry into Seattle, appeared in her hospital room with a tape recorder, and said, 'Minnie Rose, now we're going to write your book.' And we did.
"I self-published a 1st edition of 1,000 copies that sold out in a month. I was busy with four young children, so didn't have time to reprint and go on publishing the book, so I took it to Seattle where Pacific Search Press agreed to print a 2nd edition of 20,000 copies. That 2nd edition has now been out of print for many years."
Creating Imaginative Illustrations
The book is beautifully illustrated, but getting the images proved more tricky than may appear at first glance.
Elizabeth Hutchison, the illustrator, was on a tight deadline for getting the illustrations ready for printing, and it was during a cold spring in the northwest United States. As a result, she was forced to improvise and get creative to find inspiration for some of her drawings.
One page called for an image of fighting roosters, but Elizabeth only owned one, so she set up a mirror in her barn and then drew pictures of her bird trying to fight his own reflection.
Another page was talking about dust baths, but the weather had turned the ground outside to mud. To create the right setting, Elizabeth used a heat lamp to dry the floor in the barn, then drew pictures of her chickens happily rolling in the dust.
Online ordering
The third edition of Recipe for Raising Chickens was released in May 2010 priced at $13/£8.34 (prices correct at January 25, 2012).
To order a copy of the book visit NW Trillium Press's website.
Pam Griffin - Pam Griffin is a journalist working in Shropshire, UK. She is interested in first aid, singing and playing music, history, and ...
