Table Of ContentPraise for
Pure Poultry
Part memoir and part roadmap to success, Pure Poultry tells a compelling story
full of grit, passion and discovery as the author and her husband embrace a
sustainable, off-grid life in the woods — with chickens, turkeys and ducks.
Whether you are a seasoned fowl keeper or a passionate dreamer, you will find
yourself nodding, laughing, commiserating, learning and simply enjoying the
author’s knack for weaving her experiences, observations and lessons into a
page-turner of a narrative. Once I started reading, it was next to impossible to
put Pure Poultry down, even when I heard my own geese honking for their
supper. And when I finally closed the book, for the last time, I knew exactly why
I keep the fowl that I do, I learned some tricks I’d not discovered in the past 35
years and I felt happy!
— Oscar H. “Hank” Will; sustainable farmer; editor in chief, GRIT Magazine; author, Plowing with Pigs
In Pure Poultry, [Miller’s pragmatism and mirth] come through in a beautiful
blend, making this a great book for anyone who is dreams of waltzing down the
country-living path (whether or not you intend to raise heritage poultry). And in
sharing her own life experiences, she also provides an excellent resource for the
aspiring poultry person to learn the how to’s of keeping chickens, ducks and
turkeys in your own backyard or on your own farm.
— Carol Ekarius, author, Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds
Pure Poultry is not merely about chickens, ducks, and turkeys, but about one
couple’s off-grid sustainable life style that includes keeping free-range poultry
for fun and profit. Author Victoria Redhed Miller’s engaging style draws you in
right from the start and holds you captive all the way to the end. Reading Pure
Poultry is like visiting with an old friend.
— Gail Damerow, author of The Chicken Encyclopedia
Pure Poultry is a fun, easy read and full of personal stories. Sharing their
experience raising turkeys, ducks and chickens is a lesson to all. All beginners
can learn from their wins and mistakes at getting started with poultry.
— Frank R. Reese founder of Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch
pure
POULTRY
Living Well with
HERITAGE CHICKENS, TURKEYS and DUCKS
Victoria Redhed Miller
Copyright © 2013 by Victoria Redhed Miller.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Photo by Victoria Redhed Miller.
All interior photos by Victoria Redhed Miller, unless otherwise noted.
First printing August 2013.
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-753-4
eISBN: 978-1-55092-546-3
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Pure Poultry should be addressed to New Society
Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online
at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to: New Society Publishers P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC
V0R 1X0, Canada (250) 247-9737
New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an
ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in
a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through
action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council®-registered acid-
free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free,
and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC®-registered stock. New
Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to
ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase
securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Miller, Victoria Redhed, author Pure poultry :
living well with heritage chickens, turkeys and ducks / Victoria Redhed Miller.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-86571-753-4 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-55092-546-3 (html)
1. Chickens. 2. Turkeys. 3. Ducks. I. Title.
SF487.M54 2013 C2013-905086-8
636.5
C2013-905087-6
Contents
Foreword
Introduction: (Heritage) Chickens and Turkeys and Ducks: Oh, My!
1. When Good People Get Poultry
2. Another Beautiful Day in Paradise
3. Daydreams
4. A Slippery Slope: Which Comes First, the Chickens or the Homework?
5. A Rooster Called Charlemagne
6. Poultry from Scratch
7. Turkeys Are People Too — but They’re Not Chickens
8. Everybody Look Busy — Here Come the Ducks!
9. Violet, Bumptious and Hampty
10. Heritage Turkeys and Chickens Are More Sustainable, and They Have
More Fun
11. “The Mind of a Turkey”
12. Chicken Tractors and Slug Slurpers
13. Hunt and Peck: Putting Natural Foraging Behavior to Work
14. Turkeys and Chickens as Guard Animals?
15. Weasels Are Smaller Than You Think
16. Bobcats with Chicken Breath, and Other Bedtime Stories
17. Keeping the Ducks Safe at Night
18. Turkeys in the Canyon
19. Equal Rights for Unhatched Chicks
20. Keeping Poultry with Other Farmyard (and Backyard) Animals
21. Small Farm New Math: If (Chicken Tractor), Then (Pig Plow)
22. Farm-fresh Eggs: What’s the Big Deal?
23. Duck Eggs Are Delicious, and Great for Baking
24. Slaughtering and Processing Poultry
25. The Best Laid Schemes...
26. How to Cook Your Heritage Turkey
27. Tastes Like Chicken: Making a Case for Heritage Chickens as Meat Birds
28. Pot Pies and Preservation
29. Egg Money
30. The Bigger Picture: Poultry in the Community
31. Chicken Coop for the Winter-hardy Soul
32. Back to Standard Time, Which the Birds Never Left
33. Warmth
34. Pure Poultry Premise #1: Purebred Birds Are More Sustainable
35. Pure Poultry Premise #2: Shorten the Food Chain
36. Pure Poultry Premise #3: Challenge the “Get Big or Get Out” Adage
37. Pure Poultry Premise #4: Have Fun!
38. Abundance and Gratitude
39. On Being Unplugged
40. Nesting
41. Tomorrow
Appendix A: Poultry from Scratch Worksheet
Appendix B: Resources
Index
About the Author
Foreword
Jeannette Beranger
Research & Technical Programs Manager
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
HE FIRST TIME I MET VICTORIA MILLER AND HER HUSBAND
TDAVID, it was on a gray and cold day in January of 2009. I received a
warm welcome from both, along with their flock of Midget White turkeys. I had
been invited to tour their farm and along with the Millers was escorted by the
turkeys who followed us everywhere, ensuring that they were not excluded from
anything interesting going on. The tour quickly melted the chill away and
brought me into the Millers’s marvelous world of homesteading, which this book
is sure to do for its readers.
The trip to the Millers’s Canyon Creek Farms occurred by way of traveling
to Washington state and taking an extra day or two from my work to do some
“farm hopping” and visit with members of the American Livestock Breeds
Conservancy (ALBC) working with endangered breeds on their farms. I was
especially interested in what was happening on the Olympic Peninsula since
farming can be a challenge with the wet climate, large predators, and general
remoteness of the region.
As I talked and toured with Victoria, I learned that despite all of these
challenging factors, the Millers have managed to find a way to make things work
around the farm. Using traditional breeds of poultry was paramount to their
goals which in turn support genetic diversity for the species through breeding
and sharing with others. The successes are a testament to stick-to-itiveness and
determination to be kind to the land and to make a difference with the farm.
Victoria and David’s methods are simple, many developed through trial by fire
as you will read, but they worked.
At the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, we are aware of the need
for more sources of information on living with heritage breeds. Pure Poultry
comes directly from the Millers’s experiences raising chickens, turkeys and
ducks, starting out as beginners with six hens and a rooster. The day-to-day
interaction between the birds and their caretakers reveals not only the advantages
of heritage breeds, such as foraging ability, but also their different, entertaining,
and often quirky personalities.
Pure Poultry is not just another how-to book about raising poultry. As you
follow the story of the Millers’s first few years with their birds, it will help you
learn whether raising heritage poultry might work in your particular situation.
Included is a detailed worksheet designed to walk you through the process of
making the right choices, and to ensure you and your family are prepared to
begin raising poultry.
In this book, you will experience the humble wisdom of the Millers that
makes homesteading with heritage breeds successful and how “simple” can be
an exceptionally rewarding lifestyle. Sit back, enjoy, and learn
