The Thrifty Chicken Keeper

Discover a treasure trove of money-saving ideas and clever projects that keep chickens happy and families enjoying fresh eggs.

In The Thrifty Chicken Keeper, Dalia Monterroso, a.k.a. The President of Chickenlandia, offers real-life solutions to financial roadblocks and spatial constraints when it comes to raising chickens, with a focus on urban and suburban dwellers. Readers will find a variety of budget-friendly projects and ideas, from building a cardboard box brooder for chicks to cooking up healthy treats to creating a rodent-proof enclosure full of entertainment for your flock.

This book also includes down-to-earth wisdom like:

• Which breeds are the best long-term investment
• How to use nature to lower your feed bill
• What to do when your chickens get sick
• How to build a low-cost coop from repurposed materials

The Thrifty Chicken Keeper includes advice, examples, and a practical vision of how chicken keeping everywhere can benefit our rapidly changing world.

• "Dalia has worked her magic again! Keeping chickens can get expensive if you're not careful, and the Thrifty Chicken Keeper will absolutely help you save money from Day 1 without cutting corners or sacrificing essential health needs. From cost effective nesting box ideas, repurposed roost poles, and feeding healthy on a budget, Dalia has covered it all...and proves you don't have to choose between a healthy flock and a healthy budget."
  Heather Levin, founder, Chicken Health Academy and The Backyard Chicken Summit
• "When our family started raising chickens, we didn't have a big budget. We learned to build what we could, make do with what we had, and find creative ways to keep our flock healthy without spending a fortune. That's why I love The Thrifty Chicken Keeper. Dahlia shares the kind of practical, budget-friendly wisdom that comes from real experience. Whether it's affordable housing, smarter feeding, fermenting feed, growing sprouts, raising mealworms, or countless other money-saving ideas, this is the book I wish we'd had when we were getting started. More than anything, it gives people the practical tools and confidence to raise their own chickens, no matter what their budget looks like." 
  Lacie Dickson, experienced homesteader and influencer
• “On a budget or on a chicken shopping spree, this book not only teaches you how to get into backyard chicken keeping in an economic way, but takes you far beyond the roost and into the care, maintenance, and best practices for your birds. Dalia truly is a wealth of information which she freely and openly shares with us all and always with a fun, no judgement attitude. This lady understands we each have our own unique situations and expounds on this to help us all become better chicken keepers. This is a great book to be accessed over and over again.” 
  Gary Vallery, CENLA Backyard Chickens and the Chickens Every Day Podcast