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Dianne really loved "Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: Reflections on Raising Chickens" by Martin Gurdon — BEFORE we had chickens. I read it aloud to her a couple of years after her first reading and while we had chickens, and I liked parts of it. I'm not sure how Dianne felt the second time — she'll have to write her own review. My main problem was that while Martin and his wife came to care for the chickens and see their own individual personalities, but it never seemed to click with them that the way they keep buying new ones from breeders ultimately harms the chickens. I never felt like they progressed over the course of the book — it was just a series of humorous incidents interspersed with some care tips as they learn through trial and error on the chickens.
It's humorously told, with British wit and whimsy. And I found parts interesting such as when they realize with horror that they've been locking the chickens in their coop with blood-sucking mites that attack them at night. And the political machinations amongst the chickens. And the transgendered rooster.
I think it would be of most interest to people who dream of backyard chickens for eggs and a country feel and who want to live vicariously through the experiences of a humorous storyteller. For animal rights and abolitionist people, it gives a good feel for the lives of chickens as pets but not as beings in their own right.