We used to have a chicken coop filled with 24 hens and one big rooster. Daddy had built rows of nesting boxes for them and everyday John and I would go out to gather the eggs. It used to be a lot of fun.
We would try to pet the chickens and we'd talk and sing to them, occasionally Mom would give us stale bread and we would break off crumbs and throw it to them. It used to be really fun watching them run after the crumbs as we threw one piece at a time to make it last longer.
One day Grandma came and brought a new dress for me. It was a light tan with a row of bright red buttons on the back. I thought it was very pretty and wanted to wear it right away. When it was time to go gather the eggs I went skipping to the chicken coop still happily wearing my new dress.
As we were gathering the eggs our big friendly rooster, turned into a huge mean rooster. I was happily gathering eggs when he flew at my back and knocked me down, my basket of eggs went flying and all the hens went running to happily peck at the broken mess.The rooster wasn't enticed by the sight of broken eggs and kept right on attacking me. I started crying and John ran to get Mom.
She came running to my aid and shooed the rooster away, and helped me back to my feet. Once we got into the house and I got changed into a clean dress she held up the dress that was dirty from laying on the floor of the chicken coop and told me that the rooster didn't mean to hurt you he just saw the bright red buttons and wanted to eat them.
I never again wore that dress while gathering eggs and the rooster was the gentle sane rooster he was supposed to be.
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That had to be very scary for a little girl!
ReplyDeleteWow that would have been very scary. I'm really enjoying reading your story! You should write a book about your childhood.
ReplyDeleteAlso you won an award on my blog. :)
Thank you for visiting my blog so I could then come visit yours! I can truly relate to your rooster story and I too talk to my chickens since they only know us by our voice and our feet!
ReplyDeleteScary! My sister and I used to have to gather the eggs and we had a mean rooster as well. One of us would hold a huge fishing net to block the rooster while the other would grab the eggs as quickly as possible. Funny, I remember this scene so vividly!
ReplyDeleteWhat a scary experience for you as a little girl! When my daughter was four she feel out of my Grandmother's window onto a chicken. It took her and the chicken a while to recover from that!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed visiting your blog today, but have to say I wouldn't be as brave as your husband with my tooth!
What a wonderful story and such an interesting memory. Thank you for stopping by to comment.
ReplyDeleteThe Raggedy Girl
I never would have guessed a rooster would go after red buttons. That's a fascinating story.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a terrible shock to be knocked down by a rooster. Interesting about the red buttons.
ReplyDeleteI, too, had a scary experience with a rooster and ever since don't trust them! They are beautiful with their colorful tail feathers but I can only appreciate them from a distance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog...I spent the morning reading through yours--it's lovely!
That is something you (and we) eon't soon forget!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little girl, growing up on a farm, we too had a very mean rooster. He was allowed to roam free and every time I would try to walk down the path to the outhouse, he would chase me. I was VERY scared of him. One Sunday we ate him for dinner and I was very relieved :-)
ReplyDeleteHow brave and very sensible of you to go near that rooster ever again! Our roosters have been a source of many a comedic routine at our house, save for the occasional large psycopathic ones but they never lasted very long.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a story that happened to my little daughter when we lived on the farm.
ReplyDeleteShe dearly loved to gather the eggs, and would go off several times a day to hunt for any new ones. One day she came breathlessly running into the house. She plopped her basket down and said, "Mom, I guess I'm going to have to stay in the house until I'm grown up." What could have prompted that?
It turned out that Clyde, one of our roosters, had attacked her as she ran down to the chicken yard. She was only 4 at the time, and that rooster was too big and too mean. :-(
She said it so sadly, but I guess she just could not think of another solution. So her dad gave her a big stick and took her outside to practice walking around with it. After that she made sure she took it with her every time she went outside, and Clyde didn't bother her anymore.