Dry, fed, safe and busy
A hen hides trouble as long as she can, but she can’t hide all of it. She’s the last one off the roost. Her comb is a shade paler than it was on Sunday. The floor stings your nose at knee height. All of that is there to see a few days before you’d call it a problem, if you know the hour and the place.
This book gives you the place, the hour and the order: what to look at, what it means, what to do first, and when a thing is past you and it’s time to call somebody.
Instant download. Read it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print it at home. Pay once, yours to keep.
Something wrong tonight?
These are eight of the 29 lines in the book’s Trouble Finder. Open it on the feed bin with a flashlight in your other hand. Every line sends you to a numbered section, and nearly every method ends with the same thing: a small check you can do tonight, before you buy anything.
| What you’re seeing | Look first at | Section |
|---|---|---|
| A hen that isn’t right and you can’t say why | The hands-on check | 1.4 |
| The coop stings your nose | The smell test | 4.2 |
| Birds missing or killed, door still shut | Reading the scene | 5.2 |
| No eggs, or fewer eggs | The checking order | 10.2 |
| Eggs disappearing, wet shell in the nest | How egg eating starts | 11.2 |
| Something crawling on your arm at dusk | The flashlight check | 13.3 |
| Hen won’t leave the nest, hot and cross | The four signs | 15.2 |
| Several birds dead or sick at once, purple combs, swollen heads | Report it today | 16.8 |
The numbers
Plenty of people will tell you a flock pays for itself. This book writes down a twelve-hen year, line by line, and shows you where it comes out: a home flock usually doesn’t beat a plain store carton on cash.
You still might want the hens. Plenty of people do. You’ll just be keeping them with your eyes open, and you’ll know which lines to go after. Feed is two dollars out of every three, and a hen who’s laying well is worth about twice a bargain on the bag.
| Feed alone | $2.68 |
| All cash costs | $3.98 |
| Cash, plus the coop written off over 10 years | $4.48 |
| Store, plain large white | about $3.50 |
| Store, pasture-raised carton | about $7.00 |
From section 19.2: twelve hens, 180 dozen eggs a year, typical 2026 U.S. prices. Store prices are the author’s estimates, not a survey. Yours will differ, and the book shows you how to run your own.
What’s inside
Read it straight through before the chicks come, or go by the symptom when something’s wrong. Every section is numbered, so 13.5 is always the mite cycle and 4.2 is always the smell test.
Part I
Learn to see the flock before you change anything.
Part II
Most bird problems start as building problems.
Part III
Where most of the money goes.
Part IV
The reason most people started.
Part V
What the walk finds, and what to do next.
Part VI
How the flock becomes a system.
And at the back: buy-first lists at $50, $150, $500 and $1,500; reference tables for feed, water, space, eggs and costs; two coop plans with cut lists, for 4 hens and 12; and the sources, a glossary and an index.
A look inside
A method tells you what you need, how it’s done, the tonight check, and what to do when it goes wrong. Where a thing has a size, a layout or a calendar, there’s a drawing of it, worked to the same numbers as the text: roost heights, litter depths, the mite cycle, the 21-day hatch. Every chapter ends on a one-page card to cut out and tack up inside the coop door.
About Ray
I kept hens for eleven years before I added up a whole one. I’d been telling people my eggs were free. June found the receipts in a coffee can and did the sum at the kitchen table without comment, then slid it across to me.
That’s about how this book goes. Where the old way works, I’ll show you how it’s done. Where the old way was wrong, the book says so and gives you the safer way right beside it. Keep what still works. Drop what doesn’t.
Go check on your birds. — Ray
Ray Hollis is a narrated character. His stories are written to show how the methods work and are not reports of real events. The methods are drawn from traditional poultry practice, university extension publications, the Merck Veterinary Manual and current public-health guidance, and the sources are listed in Appendix E. Watch the channel →
Get the book
20 chapters · 177 numbered sections · 390+ pages · 20 cards
80+ illustrations · 75 diagrams worked to the numbers
Launch price: $20 off until December 31, then $57.
The download page opens right after payment, and Stripe emails your receipt. Lost the files? Get them again with the email you paid with.
30-day refund guarantee. If it isn’t what you hoped, write within 30 days and you get every dollar back.
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Before you buy
No. Chapter 16 tells you what to look for, how to separate a bird, and who to call. The book gives no drug doses and doesn’t have you doing surgery on the kitchen table. Nobody can diagnose your hen from a book.
No. Ray Hollis is a narrated character, and his stories are written to show how the methods work. They aren’t reports of real events. The methods themselves come from traditional poultry practice, university extension publications, the Merck Veterinary Manual and current public-health guidance, listed in Appendix E. The book hasn’t had a formal veterinary review, so check anything that matters against those sources and your own vet.
No, that’s a good time to read it. It runs the way a flock gets built: how many birds you need, breeds, where to buy, your local rules, the coop and the run. Chapter 2 prices a start at $150, $500 and $1,500.
Likely the Trouble Finder, the mite cycle, the feed sums and the ledger. Read the free chapter and the Finder first, and you’ll have a fair idea.
The book doesn’t promise that. On its worked example, a twelve-hen flock costs about $4.48 a dozen before you count your time. Selling surplus eggs and cutting feed waste help, and Chapters 8, 9 and 19 show you how to run the numbers for your own flock.
Not as drawn. The two plans in Appendix D were worked out on paper, and the book says so on its first line. Lay it out, check your own cuts, and only then spend money. Ask your zoning office first, too.
The book doesn’t know your county. Rules on keeping birds, selling eggs and processing meat change at the county line, so it tells you where the law matters and to go and check. Prices are typical U.S. retail for 2026 and will differ too.
Three PDF files: the full book (letter size), a large-print edition, and the 20 cards on their own. It’s a digital edition, so nothing gets mailed. They open on any phone, tablet or computer, and print on ordinary paper at home or at a copy shop.
After you pay, the next page has three buttons. Tap one and the book downloads. Stripe also emails you a receipt. If you ever lose the files, go to the download page, type the email you paid with, and they’re yours again.
Write within 30 days of buying by replying to your Stripe receipt, and you’ll get a full refund.
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The Dusk Walk in full, the whole Trouble Finder, and the walk card to tack up inside the coop door. It takes about two minutes at dusk to start.
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There it is. Download The Dusk Walk (PDF) →