Lesson VII

Chicken Ways

Leading thought—Chickens have interesting habits of life and extensive conversational powers.

Method—For this lesson it is necessary that the pupils observe the inhabitants of the poultry yard and answer these questions a few at a time.

Observations—1. Did the chick get out of the egg by its own efforts? For what use is the little tooth which is on the tip of the upper part of a young chicken’s beak? Does this remain?

2. What is the difference between the down of the chick and the feathers of the hen? The little chick has wings; why can it not fly?

3. Why is the chick just hatched so pretty and downy, while the young robin is so bare and ugly? Why is the young chick able to see while the young robin is blind?

4. How does the young chick get its food?

5. Does the chick chew its food before swallowing? If not, why?

6. How does the chick drink? Why does it drink this way?

7. Where does the chick sleep at night? Where will it sleep when it is grown up?

8. Where does the hen put her head when she is sleeping?

9. How does the hen call her chicks when she is with them in the field?

10. How does she call them to food?

11. How does she tell them that there is a hawk in sight?

12. What notes does the chick make when it is following its mother? When it gets lost? When it cuddles under her wing?

13. What does the hen say when she has laid an egg? When she is frightened? When she is disturbed while sitting on eggs? When she is grasped by an enemy? How do hens talk together? Describe a hen’s song.

14. When does the rooster crow? What other sounds does he make?

15. With what weapons does the rooster fight his rivals and his enemies?

16. What are the natural enemies of the barnyard fowls and how do they escape them?

Supplementary reading—True Bird Stories, Miller p. 102.