Chicken Ways

Lesson 8 from Handbook Of Nature Study

Brown Americauna Hen

1.  Did the chick get out of the egg by its own efforts?
yes  Of what use is the little tooth which is on the tip of the upper part of a young chick's beak?  to bite through the shell.  Does this remain?  no. 
2.  What is the difference between the down of the chick and the feathers of the hen?  a chick can't do anything with the down, but a hen can do a lot such as flying.  The little chick has wings; why can it not fly?  Down is not the right kind of feathers.

Claire's watercolor painting
of our chickens' eggs

3.  Why is the chick just hatched so pretty and downy, while the young robin is so bare and ugly?  the chick has to get up and find its own breakfast, but a robin baby is born blind and doesn't need to hunt for his own food, for his mom and dad bring it to him.
4.  How does the young chick get its food?  Scratching and pecking along with the mother hen.

My painting of our
chickens' eggs

5.  Does the chick chew its food before swallowing?  If not, why?  No, there is a mill inside of the chick's body that grinds up the food when it gets there.  The chick swallows tiny rocks to help grind the food.
6.  How does the chick drink?  By lifting up his head and letting the water slide down his throat.  For the chick does not have any muscles in his throat as people do.
7.  Where does the chick sleep at night?  Beneath his mother's wing.  Where will it sleep when it is grown up?  On a roost with his head under his wing.

White Americauna Hen

We have several different breeds of chickens.  Americaunas lay blue-green eggs.  The Buff Orpington and Barred Rocks lay brown eggs.  Our Leghorn lays white eggs, but we haven't been able to find her eggs lately.  She is a good hider.