Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-02-19
STUDY in THE
MANSFIELD HIGH
SCHOOL

SCHOOL
The pupils in the agriculture
class of the Mansfield high
school are devOting part of then
time to practical poultry keeping
Soon after the opening OF the
session in September the mem
bcrS Of the class began to put IN
some time out of regular school
hours in selecting the best loca,
ton on the school grounds
fora poultry pen. After the
place had been settled on the
work Of construction was taken
up and carried ont mainly at the
regular laboratory period.
The enclosure is SO by 100 feet.
The ground slopes toward the
south, is We'll drained, gravelly
sill. and has several forest trees
~ it. Thc poultry house is near
the cent ~ of the run and is very
simple in construction. lis I'll
menSicnS are 10 by - by : IT
hinh in front. The building has
4 partition which divides it into
two rooms of equal size. One of
them is a roasting place and the
other serves for a scratching
shed and nesting place. Tie
lumber used for the walls was
new but some of the dimension
stuff and most of the Shceting
and partition was waste material
bought for kindling.
The plan fox tn" house and tie
labor Of putting it up was nearly
all done by members of the class.
Finding the length Of the raftcrS
and the amount of roofing ma.
tcridl furnished good problems
for work in arithmetic.
The building faces the south.
1t has only one outside door
Il large one opening into the
rooSting place. There is smaller
door through the partition and
each door has a small opening in
it 50 that the hens may pass back
and forth freely when the doors
arc closed.
Several experiments have been
tried by the class to see what
kind Of percheS the hens prefer.
The most satisfactory one is a
rough pole about | to i inches
in diameter. The hens refused
TO sit on a | by e lying down fiat
but did not object very much to
it when turned up edgewise. A
, by ! was tried in the same way
but did not seem to meet the APP
proval of the hens even when it
was rounded at the edges.
The scratching plac, has a
strip of ordinary 1 foot chicken
wire at the south and east sides
inst ad of lumber. This affords
sunlight and fresh air in abund,
anco. When the weather is good
some feed is scattered outside
but on stormy days everything
is fed in the house.
No attempt so far has beer
made to experiment with specia
raLions. A large share of the
feed consists of scraps left from
the children's lunches. The pu,
pills in the grades as well as the
high school students are asked
to put what is left of their lunch
cs into a box or bucket for the
chickens rather than to throw il
into the stove or on the ground
In this way some excellent les
sons in cleanliness and household
economy are impressed on the
minds of the children. Besides
the scraps, corn chops, bran, and
whole wheat have been fed.
The primary purpose of this
undertaking was to study the
different breeds of chickens a,
first hand. Soon after the class
was organized each of the Is
members chose one variety for
special study. Text books, poul.
try journals, farm magazines,
and many other sources were
searched diligently for informa.
ton concerning each particular