Hentopia

More eggs, less work! And more enjoyment for both the chickens and their keeper! That’s the promise of Frank Hyman’s Hentopia.

From the Vending Machine Feeder to the Refilling Rainwaterer, Hyman’s innovative building projects are designed to save time and money while keeping chickens safe, healthy, clean, and well fed. Featuring easy-to-follow instructions and colorful photos, the 21 projects for the chicken yard range from creative doorways, nest boxes, fencing, and roosts to a predator-proof pen, a “Chunnel” chicken run, and a sturdy but inexpensive coop made from wooden pallets. With a lively, humorous voice, Hyman generously shares his expert advice on all aspects of chicken-keeping. Requiring minimal previous carpentry experience and using many salvaged or found materials, Hentopia is within reach of every aspiring chicken-keeper.

Frank Hyman is a certified mushroom forager who teaches mushroom identification to chefs, arborists, organic farmers, and the general public. His writing on foraging has appeared in Forbes, Paleo Magazine, and Hobby Farms. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Preface: My Wife Wanted Chickens

Part I: Chicken Habitat
1 Feed the Masses without Any Messes
2 Drink Up (Or Down)
3 The Hen Pen and a Chicken Corral
4 Enrich and Accessorize
Profile: Adventurer Hans Voerman’s Caribbean Hen Habitat

Part II: Ins and Outs of Chicken Coops
5 Doorways Four Ways
6 No-Burnout Cleanout and Ventilation
7 Building the Best Nest Box
Profile: Award-Winning Chef Suvir Saran's Heritage Breed Chickens

Part III: Backyard Building
8 Tips on Tools for Non-Carpenters
9 High-Quality, Low-Cost Materials
10 Coop Design
Profile: Author Amy Stewart’s First-Lady Chickens

Egg-cellent Questions
References and Resources
Metric Conversions and Equivalencies
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index