About 70 readers who ordered our new 64-page “Chickens” mini-anthology, which we advertised on the inside front cover of last issue (Issue No. 109), will be getting a refund of their money. We mailed the checks out yesterday. Instead, I will send these people the book free. I decided the book didn’t live up to a statement in the ad, namely: “Everything you ever wanted to know about chickens.”

It is really a beginner’s book, so I retitled it: “Chickens, a beginner’s handbook.” It’s very good, edited by both Jackie Clay and Rhoda Denning, and it should be off the press in two to three weeks. Now this may sound a little extreme for a publisher to return checks to people who just paid him for a book and instead give them the book free. But it is consistent with the sound financial philosophy I have used to guide BHM since the beginning. I am essentially protecting BHM’s Integrity Equity, which is a phrase I just coined to cover an intangible ingredient I’ve always held dear when it comes to BHM.

Integrity Equity is the measure of trust your readers place in your product and in the way you do business. BHM has high Integrity Equity with its readers, and it is my job as publisher to ensure it stays high. Sending out a chicken book that does not live up to our ad’s claim would damage our Integrity Equity with some of those 70 readers. It doesn’t matter how good a beginner’s guide this chicken book is. We advertised it as “everything you ever wanted to know about chickens,” and it is not. It is a beginner’s guide. Very thorough in its 64-page treatment, but still a beginner’s guide to starting and maintaining a flock of chickens. The money we lose in refunds and by giving 70 books away free will come back to us in other ways, through the vast array of tentacles honesty sends out through the marketplace.

Since we are giving the books away free to some subscribers, we will offer it to all subscribers for our minimum shipping charge of $4.95 until April 1. It’s not on any of our order forms, either in the print issue or online, so you’ll have to call BHM (1-800-835-2418) if interested. Otherwise, in a few weeks it will become a subscription premium for multiyear subscribers.

My own chickens, meanwhile, are happily free-ranging our five acres this time of year. Larry Bird, our rooster, tries to keep them in one place so he can sound the alarm in the event of danger. The hens usually go back to the coop to lay their eggs.