CHICKENS 
warm feathers. For the first day of his life after he 
has left the shell, he is rather weak, and not at all 
hungry, but after that he is able to run about at a 
great rate. 
He is a charming little fellow then, so soft and 
fluffy, generally yellow, or buff, or whitish in colour. 
It is weeks before he has any real feathers. Then 
they start to sprout from his shoulders and elbows, 
and these feathers grow quite a lot before he has any 
tail to speak of. 
The Mother Hen finds for her babies flies, 
grubs and tiny worms, but she also teaches them, 
odd though it seems, to eat stone. They have to 
pick up and swallow every little sharp chip she can 
find, for she knows that Chickens have, inside them, 
organs that are like small mills, and these must be 
supplied with tiny grinding stones. She teaches 
them, also, where to look for food. She scratches 
in moss and leaves, or in the straw, or round the 
roots of grass, and she calls Cluck ! cluck ! ” and 
the tiny ones run with haste to see what she has found. 
They are fed, too, by whoever owns them, with 
ground oats, soft boiled wheat, and other good 
nourishing food. 
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