Beth Wood is the senior collection development librarian for the Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org. Photo Are you longing to own chickens? The city of Vancouver allows residents with a permit to have hens — but no roosters (https://vancouver.municipal.codes/VMC/20.895.050). Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat and Skamania counties each have county regulations, which you can access through their websites. Goldendale allows chickens with a permit, but not roosters, and Stevenson’s code is similar — a permit for the coop, and no roosters. Spring is the best time to obtain chicks, and we always have a run on chicken books at the library. Must be some kind of fowl weather trend … Here are some titles related to building coops and poultry care:

“Let’s All Keep Chickens: The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds in a Happier World” by Dalia Monterroso (2023) “The Homesteader’s Natural Chicken Keeping Handbook: Raising a Healthy Flock from Start to Finish” by Amy K. Fewell (2019) “Backyard Chickens: Beyond the Basics” by Pam Freeman (2017) “Chicken DIY: 20 Fun-to-Build Projects for Happy, Healthy Chickens” by Daniel Johnson (2017) “How to Build Chicken Coops: Everything You Need to Know” by Samantha Johnson (2017) Eggscellent! Moving right along … Champions of chickens would argue that chickens have not gotten the attention and respect they deserve. Not so, my poultry paladins: several books exploring chicken’s personalities have been published recently, and I’m not just snapping my beak here: “How to Read a Chicken’s Mind: Understand How Chickens Learn, Perceive People, Express Emotions, and Pass Down Knowledge” by Melissa Caughey (2025) “What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird” by Sy Montgomery (2024) “How to Speak Chicken: Why your Chickens Do What They Do and Say What They Say” by Melissa Caughey (2017) Did you know the most popular book about chickens was written right here in Washington? Betty MacDonald penned “The Egg and I” (1945) about her experience as a young married woman starting a poultry farm near Port Townsend. The book was made into a movie with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. Check out both at the library — we also have a book club kit for this classic! Ah, but you want to involve the whole family in this egg-stravaganza, right? Here are two really funny books about chickens for older kids: “Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer” by Kelly Jones (2015) “Are You Ready to Hatch an Unusual Chicken?” By Kelly Jones (2018) And some picture books for the younger set: “Interrupting Chicken” series by David Ezra Stein “Chicken Break!: A Counting Book” by Cate Berry (2019) Scratch around this list; you’re sure to find something to nibble on!