The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor WorkMiller, Mary Rogers
Philosophy
The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work
Miller, Mary Rogers
Agriculture -- Juvenile literature
I had twelve white Leghorn hens and a cock entered. They were all
little beauties and I enjoyed working with them very much.
They laid one thousand six hundred twenty-two eggs during the year. The
eggs were worth from twenty-five to sixty cents a dozen. We fed them
wheat, corn, barley, oats, and bran in which table scraps were mixed,
oyster shells, grit, prepared beef scraps, charcoal, and green foods
such as grass from the lawn, cabbage, kale, and lettuce and other
green things from the garden. Each hen made us a profit of two dollars
and seventy-two cents for the year.
Chickens need lots of care. Their house must be cleaned out, there
should be some fresh ground dug up in the yard, and they need some
green food every day. Papa took care of the house, and I mowed the lawn
and gave them the clippings and gathered cabbage leaves, kale leaves,
and lettuce leaves out of the garden and gave them each day.
In the spring time we let them out a few minutes every morning to get
bugs and worms. They soon had all the bugs and worms scratched out
of the garden and then they ran out in the yard and scratched up the
flower beds, which did not please mamma very well. After that they
wanted to go to the neighbour's yard but we had to keep them up. This
was before we made the garden.
Chickens make nice pets. They are much nicer than dogs or cats, and
if you take good care of them they will pay well beside. I had a nice
little white Leghorn hen I called "Petty." When she was a little
chicken I would catch her every day and play with her. She would go in
the nest and wait for some one to take her out and pet her. She got so
tame that I could catch her any place in the yard. I would go in the
yard and get her and take her out in the garden and dig for her and let
her find the bugs and worms.
I had another little chicken that I called "Jim." He was a cute little
rooster. When he was just a little chicken I would put him to bed every
night and when he grew a little older he would not go to bed alone.
One night we weren't at home at his bedtime and when we came home that
night we heard a funny little noise in the back yard. It was raining
and Jim had gone under the sweet pea vines to sleep instead of going
into his box.
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