LITTLE COWBOY’S BIG ADVENTURE
Chapter 1
Jack Henry had lived in the big city all of his life, he dreamed of one day living on a farm and having all the different animals that he had seen at the State Fair. When Jack grew up that dream came true. He married his childhood sweetheart Anne and moved to the country where they bought a lovely farm house with a big red barn. The last person that lived on the farm had built a nice chicken pen with a chicken house that would hold at least 20 of his feathered friends. Across from the barn was a pen for a horse, some cows, and a couple of pigs.
The day Jack and Anne moved into their new house their nearest neighbors, Bill
and Sue Roberts and their three sons, came by for a visit. Bill was a great help by telling Jack where to buy all the animals for his farm. The boys joined in with excitement about where to get the horse.
“Can we ride your horse Mr. Henry?” asked Brandon the youngest of the three.
“You sure can,” replied Jack, “and if you’d like, you can just call me Jack.”
“Since you live on a farm how about us calling you Farmer Jack?” asked Rob the
oldest of the trio.
“I think I like that.” Jack responded. “Farmer Jack,” Anne laughed, “I like it too.”
The next few weeks were great fun for Farmer Jack. He bought Betsy the cow,
who was expecting a calf, Mr. & Mrs. Oink the pot belly pigs, two goats Billy & Betty, and a black mare named Fannie. The next thing on Farmer Jack’s list was his favorite farm animals “ CHICKENS.” After checking several feed stores that sold poultry, Jack decided that he liked the Rhode Island Reds the best because their color matched his barn.
“ I’ll take those 12 hens in that cage and the two biggest roosters you have in
Stock,” Jack instructed the clerk.
The new farmer watched closely as the gentleman in bibbed overhauls caught
each chicken and inserted it into the cage. Jack had bought it special to transport his new addition in..
Poor Jack he didn’t know anything about raising chickens in fact he didn’t know
how to raise any kind of animal, but he was about to learn. Rudy, the feed store owner, could tell right off that this was all new to Jack so he gave him the book called “How To Raise Chickens” to help him get started. Jack was very grateful and promised that he would be back to buy all his feed to repay his kindness.
Jack was excited to get home with his newest addiction to the farm. He could
hardly wait to see the flock running around the yard and waking up to the sound of his two roosters crowing at the break of dawn.
When Jack pulled into the drive way the boys from down the road were waiting
joyfully in the chicken pen ready to see Jack’s new pets. Since the new farmer wasn’t sure of handling his new flock he pulled the truck as close to the pen as he could get. “I’m ready” Jack said to the boys as he reached into the cage to catch the first chicken. He tried to hold it like the man at the feed store had shown him, ‘by the chickens feet. The red ball of feathers flip flopped around and flapped her wings like she was in terrible pain.
Jack quickly put her through the gate and went back for the next one. There must be a
better way Jack thought, about then Matt, the middle boy, opened the cage door and
gently took out the next hen and cuddled her in his arms. The chicken seem to like the way Matt was holding her so Jack gave it a try. Sure enough she responded the same way.
Rob and Brandon decide to help put the rest of the chickens into there new yard. One by one they were gently carried through the gate and released, all but the biggest rooster of the two. Jack decided he needed to be the one to handle this rooster he had a mean look about him and he didn’t want the boys to be hurt. As he reached into the pen the big rooster flapped his wings and ran around and around the cage like someone was trying to kill him. After ten minutes of trying to get the rooster, Jack decided to just carry the pen into the chicken yard and let the frightened bird come out on his on . It wasn’t long before he came strutting out flapping his wings, throwing his head up and crowing like he had to wake up the sun. Jack could tell right then that this one was going to be the trouble maker of the flock, so he named him Trouble.
The Mysterious Egg
Chapter 2
Matt, Rob, and Brandon loved going to Farmer Jack’s house, he always allowed
them to ride Fannie and after words they would give her a bath and brush her black, silky coat. One day as the three were crossing the field to Jack’s farm Brandon discovered a tiny white egg laying in a clump of weeds.
“Hey guys, look at this” he yelled to his brothers. Matt and Rob ran to see what
Brandon had found. “Hum, I wonder what kind of egg it is” said Rob.
“Well its not a chicken egg declared Matt, its way to small.”
The boys began looking around for the bird that laid the egg but nothing was in sight.
“I have an ideal” Rob said as he picked up the egg, lets take it to Farmer Jack’s
hen house “he had said that Ruby was going to start sitting on her eggs today.” The other two boys were in agreement and decided that they wouldn’t tell Jack about the egg so he would be surprised.
When the boys reached the hen house they discovered Ruby on her nest, she was
a nice hen but she refused to get off her eggs and the boys were afraid to put the egg under her, hens are very protective of their babies and sometimes they will peck the intruder. Rob suggested tempting the hen with feed to get her to come into the yard, Matt thought that was a good ideal and quickly ran to the barn to retrieve some sweet grain. When Ruby saw the treat she quickly jumped off the nest to enjoy her mid day snack. Matt and Rob agreed to kelp guard over Ruby while Brandon slipped the tiny white egg in the middle of the five large brown eggs. “I hope she doesn’t notice”, says Brandon as he exits the hen house.
When Ruby finished the grain she waddled back to her nest to warm her eggs, as
she began turning her future babies she noticed something new in her nest .
“Where did this come from?” the mother hen asked herself, “I didn’t lay this egg
its little, its white.” As Ruby studied the new egg in her nest she decided that the mother of the egg couldn’t take care of her baby and had given it to her to raise. “I can adopt this chick” clucked Ruby, “I always wanted a half dozen babies.”
Ruby fluffed her feathers, spread out her wings, and pulled all her eggs gently
under her plump body, in 21 days she would have 6 beautiful babies to care for.
The Big Surprise
Chapter 3
Twenty one days was a long time to wait for three little boys, Farmer Jack was
even more excited than they were for the day of hatching. Finely the day arrived, Farmer Jack woke up at the brake of dawn, he put his work close on and out the door he went. When he walked into the hen house Ruby began clucking as if she was saying, come Jack see what I have. Ruby jumped off her nest to expose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 beautiful red baby chicks and 1, “What is that,” asked Jack as he saw the smallest chick he could imagine seeing. There laid a tiny ball of spotted fuzz, it had one foot out stretched while the other foot was balled up like he was making a fist.
About then Anne came walking into the chicken house, “Come see what we’ve
got here Anne,” Jack said as he moved out of the way so Anne could see into the nest.
Anne was also surprised to see the strange little chick among the five red babies.
“I wonder how it got here.” asked Anne. “I bet the boys put the egg in the nest for
a surprise for us” responded Jack.“ They're going to get a big surprise themselves when they see what hatched out of their egg.. This is going to be a very special chicken with its hurt little foot.” Anne told Jack with a little tear in her eye. “I agree.” said Jack, he then patted Ruby on her back and told her what a great job she had done, then went about feeding the rest of the animals.
After breakfast the three boys asked their mom for permission to go to Farmer
Jacks to see if his chicks had hatched, “Sure,” replied mom “but don’t touch the new
babies.” The boys were off in a happy race to see what came out of the egg.
Jack was out feeding Fannie when he saw the boys running through the yard.
“Did they hatch?” the three asked with excitement. “They sure did” replied Jack “and
there is a surprise in the nest, I’m not real sure where it came from but I bet you boys know.” The three ran as fast as they could giggling all the way to the chicken house.
Ruby was excited to see the boys and ready to show off her new babies, “Cluck,
Cluck, Cluck” she said in her language, “come see but don’t touch.” She hopped off her nest and there set her six little chicks. Five plump red chicks and one tiny spotted baby with a hurt foot.
“It was a chicken egg.” Brandon laughed with his words. “What kind of chicken is
it?” asked Matt. “I don’t know,” replied Rob “all I know is that its different from all the rest.” Brandon asked, “ Can we name it?” “He needs a special name” blurted Matt. “Yea something big.” responded Rob, “something brave” Brandon added . “I know we can call him Cowboy.”, Matt said looking for the approval from his brothers. “I like that” the other two agreed, “Cowboy it is.”
Mother hen liked the name the boys had come up with, cluck, cluck, cluck,
Cowboy my special one.
There’s No Difference
Chapter 4
Ruby spent the next few hours helping her little ones learn how to walk. The five
red babies did fine but cowboy seemed to have a little problem. All four of his toes on his right foot curled around so tight that they made a fist and it was hard to keep his balance and he would fall flat on his beak. Four of the other chicks laughed when Cowboy raised his head and had a piece of straw sticking out of his mouth.
“Don’t laugh” cried Honey, the first hatched female of the clutch, “Can’t you see
he has a hurt foot?” Mother agreed. “What’s wrong with his foot” asked Big Boy, the
largest little rooster in the nest? “Why’s he so little and a different color than we are mom?” asked Susie, the cutest of the girls. “Come here my little chicks.” mother hen instructed, stretching out her wings to gather her babies close to her.
“The reason Cowboy looks so different than the rest of you is because he came
from a different mother, chickens come in lots of colors and different sizes too. When Cowboy was still in his egg he was given to me to care for and raise as my own. So Cowboy is one of my chicks just like the rest of you. Now about Cowboys foot,
sometimes things go wrong in the development of chicks. Cowboy was in a very small
shell and he didn’t have room to stretch out his toes, that’s why they grew like they did. The one thing you must all remember is that even though Cowboy looks different than you, he is still a chicken.”
Cowboy liked what his mom said, he had a nice family a nice home, a nice farmer
and nice kids that that gave him a great name ( Cowboy ).
By the end of the day Cowboy had learned how to walk on his crippled little foot,
still a little wobbly, but he could get from one side of the nest to the other. Cowboy's brothers and sisters would cheer him on every time he took another step, “chirp, chirp, good job Cowboy.”
When the chicks were two days old Ruby decided it was time to introduce her
babies to the rest of the flock. “Little ones watch me closely as I go down the ramp you have to be very careful not to fall.” mother hen warned . “Now come on down slowly.”
One by one each chick walked down the ramp 1, 2, 3, 4, “Watch out below!” Big
Boy shouted as he ran down the ramp flapping his little wings “I can fly.” “If you don’t stop that running Big Boy I’ll make you fly right back to the nest.” mother said with a firm voice. “OK mom” the cocky little rooster replied with a sigh.
As Ruby proudly watched each chick parade into the chicken yard she realized
that one was missing. “Where is Cowboy” ,she asked her chicks, “He was right behind
me mom” replied Big Boy “but he’s not there now.”
Mom quickly ran back to the hen house to find Cowboy, he wasn’t on the ramp so
she hopped back into her nest, there he was sitting in a corner crying. “I can’t do it mom, I can’t come down the ramp I’ll fall and everyone will laugh.” Ruby cuddled Cowboy in between her wings, “It’s ok my little one I will help you down.” Mother hen walked very slowly with Cowboy right up against her leg to make sure that he wouldn’t fall or be afraid. By the time they were off the ramp and into the yard the rest of the chicks were running, flapping their wings and meeting the rest of the flock.
When Ruby entered the yard Cowboy continued to hide behind his mom, he
sure if he could trust the big chickens in the yard . “You got a pretty nice looking family there Ms. Ruby,” Grandpa Rooster crowed “but what’s that hiding under your feathers?”
About that time Cowboy peeked around his moms legs. “Its me,” Cowboy peeped. “Come on out here and let me take a look at you, if your a Cowboy then you must be
brave.”
With the encouragement from Grandpa, Cowboy came from behind his mothers
legs, walking with a limp that got the attention of every chicken in the yard.
“ You are brave” declared Grandpa “and someday you will be ruling the roost.”
Up to that point Trouble had not even looked in the direction of the new family members, he didn’t consider them a threat so why waist his time. “Grandpa said Cowboy would rule the roost“, Trouble repeated in his head.. Grandpa words made Trouble so mad that he crowed for five minutes, “I rule the roost around here!” crowed Trouble “and no little chickens ever going to take my place.”
Trouble In The Chicken Yard
Chapter 5
Ruby was a great mother, she taught her chicks how to catch bugs, fly through the
yard, and most of all how to be friends and love everyone. Cowboy also learned to do all the things his brothers and sister could do. His hurt foot didn’t stop him from running and playing with the other chicks, he just wasn’t as fast as the rest. All the chickens in the farm yard loved Cowboy, there was something special about the little rooster and it wasn’t because of his foot. He may have had a small body, but he had a great big heart.
The chicks grew fast, and their feathers had turned a beautiful red like their
mothers all but Cowboys, his had turned red, black, green ,copper, and white. By the time the red chicks turned six months old they were also as big as their mother and now called by there adult titles ( Hens & Roosters ), all but Cowboy. He was still so small that everyone kelp calling him the little chick. This bothered Cowboy.
One day Cowboy called a meeting of all the chickens, he had something to say, and he wanted everyone to hear it. The flock came together in a big circle, the young and
old, for they all wanted to hear what Cowboy had to say, except Trouble. He stood out
side he circle with his back turned from the rest.
Cowboy began telling his story about how he became part of his family. He
wasn’t a Rhode Island Red like the rest of the flock, but a Bantam which are small
chickens made up of many different colors. He was no longer a chick just because of
his size, but a full grown rooster like the rest of his family.
All of a sudden Trouble jumped into the middle of the circle, flapped his wings,
and crowed so loud that it made all the flock jump back in fear.
“Don’t listen to another word of that you little half pint, that wants to call himself a rooster.”
“He’s a scared little chick, in fact he’s so little he could barely make a cup of soup. A rooster! He wants to be a rooster! A rooster can crow and I haven’t heard anything but a peep come out of his mouth.” As fast as Trouble jumped into the middle of the circle he jumped out flapping his wings and crowing, “I rule the roost and no one will ever take my place.” Trouble’s words had broke Cowboy’s heart. He now felt even smaller than his tiny body. “He’s right,” thought Cowboy, “I’m worthless, I’m little, I have a crippled foot, and I can’t even crow.” Cowboy dropped his head and ran to the hen house where he was hatched. He set down in the corner of the pen and began to cry.
Mother Hen ran after Cowboy, following close behind was all the other farm chickens. One after the other they all began telling Cowboy how much they loved him and not to listen to what Trouble had to say, he was just a bad rooster and one day he would be cut down to size. Cowboy sniffed back the tears and trusted his family that every thing would be alright.
Cowboy Saves The Flock
Chapter 6
That night Cowboy couldn’t sleep he kept thinking about what Trouble had said.
“Maybe I am worthless. What have I done to show that I’m not afraid? I’ve never even
been outside the house after dark.”
As Cowboy sat on his perch reliving what Trouble had said to him earlier that day,
he heard a noise coming from the chicken yard. He lifted his head and stretched his little body as far as it could go, trying to hear the noise from outside. Cowboy’s heart began beating fast as the noise become louder. “I have to go see.”, Cowboy whispered to himself making sure not to wake the other chickens.
Slowly the little rooster walked down the ramp that led to the yard. With each step
his heart beat a little faster and a little harder. “I’m not afraid, I’m a rooster,” Cowboy told himself with each step he took. As he reached the door leading into the yard he peaked around the corner in hopes of seeing where the noise was coming from. Just his luck he couldn’t see a thing and he knew that he had no choice but to enter into the darkness to see if there was an intruder.
The little rooster took a big breath of courage and repeated “I’m not afraid”, then
walked through the door. The noise was much louder in the yard, but where was it
coming from? Cowboy slowly walked around the yard keeping his body close to the
ground in hopes of not to being seen by the thing that was making the noise.
All of a sudden the noise got very loud, it was a growl being made by some kind of an animal. Cowboy knew that it wanted to eat him for his dinner. As Cowboy looked to where the noise was coming from he saw the biggest cat he had ever seen. This wasn’t a farm cat this was a Bob Cat like the one his mother had told him about. Without thinking Cowboy began to crow, it was the biggest, loudest, scariest crow that ever came out of the chicken yard. The Bob Cat was so scared that he fell backwards off the fence and began running as fast as he could.
Cowboy was still crowing when he heard the rest of the flock clucking and
crowing behind him. “We saw what you did,” said Grandpa, “you saved all your family
from the giant cat.” “Cowboy's a HERO!” cheered all the chickens, all but one, TROUBLE . He just sat in the chicken house shaking in his feathers.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Frances Wall
Frances, this is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWill there be more chapters?
I love the Cowboy adventures?
ReplyDelete