Poultry On The Farm (1959)

it is early morning on the farm [Music] the chickens are coming down from their root Farmer Brown is going into the hen house one of Farmer Brown's first chores in the morning is to give the chickens fresh water these chickens are called White legghorns they're good egg layers now the chickens are coming out to the chicken yard for their breakfast of corn and grain they pick up food with their sharp beaks they also eat gravel it helps to grind up the hard food in their gizzards chicken do not have teeth so they swallow their food whole this is a hen hens are females notice her small red comb because a chicken's eyes are on opposite sides of its head it looks first with one eye and then with the other the rooster is a male and is always taller than a hen you can tell he's a rooster by the large red comb on top of his head and the long red wle on his neck here is a rooster and a hen now can you see the difference between them Farmer Brown lets some hens sit on their eggs until they hatch here is the first baby chick soon the other chicks will be hatching mother keeps her baby chicks warm in a day or so all the chicks will be out of their nest following mother around the yard these chicks have been born on the farm but most chicks are born away from the farm the freshly laid eggs are gathered from the nest and sent to places where there are large electrically heated incubators the incubator looks looks like a large chest of drawers it will hold hundreds of eggs at one time the eggs are placed in the drawers where they will stay warm like the eggs under mother hen it has been several days since the eggs were put in the incubator every day the eggs are turned let's see what's happening inside this egg in just 3 days the little chick has already started to form in a few more days we can see a black Speck which is the little chick's eye if you look closely you can see the heart beating and now nearly 3 weeks after the egg was laid the tiny chick is ready to hatch the little chick is moving inside the shell he's trying to break out and now all the eggs have hatched hundreds of them listen to the baby chick's peeping the newborn chicks are put into cardboard boxes which can be shipped to the farmer this box is for Farmer Brown who will take it Direct directly to his Brer house the little chicks will stay in the Brer house until they're stronger they have a coat of soft yellow down now they are 2 weeks old look how well this chick stands and drinks in a month's time white feathers and little red Combs will begin to appear in two months time the chickens are almost full grown they're ready to join Farmer Brown's flock Farmer Brown does not only keep chickens on his farm but he also raises [Music] Ducks this is a baby duckling he and the other ducklings are going for their first swim they waddle down to the water's edge as fast as their little legs will carry them father and mother duck go into the water first the ducklings follow they don't need any lessons in swimming ducks have oily feathers which help them float they also have webbed feet which make good paddles can you see them mother duck Scoops up food from the bottom of the pond with her broad flat bill other ducks look for seeds and tiny bugs along the water's edge little ducklings grow quickly these four- we old ducklings are almost the size of grown chickens and as noisy mother and father duck are always nearby ready to protect their babies Farmer Brown will keep his Ducks until they're large enough for market then he'll raise another flock Mrs Brown keeps a few geese to sell for spending money here she is coming out of the goose house what is she carrying in her basket why they're goslings only a few minutes old Mrs Brown has taken them from their nest so that they will not be accidentally stepped on by the older geese she will keep them in The Farmhouse kitchen until they can take care of themselves the goslings are a week old they're covered by yellow down the same as baby chicks now the goslings are about 6 weeks old they will not look much like their parents until their feathers begin to to grow this is the Father Goose or Gander and this is Mother Goose geese are as much at home in water as on land their strong legs and webbed feet make them powerful swimmers notice how their long necks help them Reach for food Farmer Brown also keeps a large flock of turkeys there are some baby turkeys in this cage shall we look inside these baby turkeys were born in an incubator only 3 days ago they're protected from cold or damp weather the turkey yard has many shelters for these large birds there are also feeding boxes turkeys like to roost off the ground that is why they sit on the roofs of their shelters these are young bronze turkeys this is the female or hen turkey these are male or Tom turkeys listen to them Goble soon they'll all be large enough for the Thanksgiving table so we have seen all the different kinds of poultry on Farmer Brown's Farm can you answer these questions about them what do chickens eat that helps grind up their food how long does it take for an egg to hatch what is on a duck's feathers that helps it to float what kind of feet do ducks have why were the goslings taken out of their nests what is Father goose called what sound do turkeys make and the last question is would you like to run a poultry farm of your own someday [Laughter]