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
The first little chicks we hatched we took away from the hen and raised
them by hand. For about a week after they were hatched we put them in
a basket and covered them over with warm, woollen cloths and set them
by the stove to keep warm over night. I had a peach box with a wire
covering to keep them in, in the daytime. On sunshiny days we set them
out in the sunshine but after about a week they were not satisfied with
that. I decided that what they wanted was to get out and run for bugs.
So one afternoon when I came home from school it was nice and sunshiny
and I let them out of their box. When they first stepped into the grass
they were surprised. That was the first time they had ever stepped
on the lawn. They ran right to a rose bush and stayed right there all
the time picking off bugs. Each evening I let them out they would go
a little farther away from home. At last they had caught all the bugs
around the place and if we did not watch, they would run over to the
neighbour's yard. I am anxious for the time to come when we will have
more little chicks.
RUTH HAYES
The girl who tells this story is thirteen years old. She won second
prize, fifty dollars.
ANOTHER PRIZE WINNER'S STORY
During the time that I have been taking care of poultry I have been
successful. I only had six chickens in the Oregon Junior Poultry
Contest, five hens and a rooster, but I have about fifty other chickens
to take care of. The chickens that I had in the contest were Black
Minorcas, but I also raise White Wyandottes. I seem to have better
success with my White Wyandottes than with my Black Minorcas. The
house I have for the contest chickens is twelve feet wide and six feet
long. The place they roost in is four feet by six and the rest is a
scratching shed, which is eight feet by six. The house is open front
and has a ground floor, which is dry and the chickens can dust in it.
I feed them three times a day, grain morning and noon, which I feed
in litter, and a warm mash at night so they can go to roost warm. I
also keep bran, charcoal, and grit before them all the time. I have
a bone cutter, and feed cut bone to my chickens once a week. I clean
off the drop board every morning, and once a week I coal-oil the roost
and where the roost rests. During this cold weather I do not let the
chickens out very early and when it is raining I do not let them out
at all. Every night after the chickens have gone to roost I go out and
throw a little grain in their litter and that gives them something to
do the first thing in the morning.
I am sorry that I did not have a photograph of myself to send you.
FRANK MITCHELL
A BOY FEEDS SIX THOUSAND HENS IN HALF AN HOUR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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