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Chickens When I was a young girl growing up on the farm, my job was to collect the eggs from the chicken coop. I also had to feed and water the chickens. Chickens are very noisy birds; they cluck, squawk, scold, and screech; they flap, fly, fluff. And they peck! Sometimes a chicken will lay her egg right out in the open, and you just need to bend down and put it in the basket. Sometimes, they lay their eggs way down underneath a rack or shelf or cupboard, and you have to bend and reach to collect them. But mostly, chickens like to lay eggs in nesting shelves, boxes, or cupboards. Once and a while, a chicken starts to "brood" on a number of eggs. This means that she wants to sit on them until they hatch. But, if you need to collect the eggs every day to sell them, the chickens are not allowed to brood. That means that you have to reach in, under the hen, and remove the eggs. A broody hen most often will peck at you! Ouch! Farmers raise chickens either for their meat or to sell their eggs.
The female chicken is a hen, the male is a rooster, and the baby is a chick. The males have longer combs on the top of their heads and longer wattles (red skin below their beaks.) Usually their tail feathers are longer and the color of the feathers is more brilliant. In the pictures below, you can find some roosters (look at the comb and wattles), and some hens. Notice the variety of shades and patterns of feathers for the different species. One rooster looks like he has no head - just feathers. This is an exotic breed of chicken with extra fluffy feathers. He turned his head the other way just as I snapped his picture. I guess he was shy.
Again, we have many stories about chickens, roosters, and hens. Can you find the "Higgelty-Piggelty hen?", or the "Little Red Hen" in the pictures? There are many stories about the rooster bringing in the day for the farmer. Can you find one in your library? One very funny looking type of chicken is called a turken, and it has a bald neck like a turkey. Which one of these two is the turken?
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