ES

ME ’S

EG

GNeil G

riffithsIllustrated by Christine G

roveR

edRobin

Neil GriffithsIllustrated by

Christine Grove9 781905434978

ISBN 978-1-905434-97-8

www.redrobinbooks.com

£6.99

Farmer Ferguson’s refusal to leaveEsme’s eggs alone, wherever shetries to hide them, leads her to laydown the law on egg collectiononce and for all. This decisionleads to one of the most eggcitingadventures of her life with acrackingly good conclusion!

Red Robin Books is an imprint of Corner To Learn Limited

Published by

Corner To Learn LimitedWillow Cottage • 26 Purton Stoke • Swindon • Wiltshire SN5 4 JF • UK

ISBN: 978-1-905434-97-8

First published in the UK 2012Text © Neil Griffiths 2012

Illustrations © Christine Grove 2012

The rights of Neil Griffiths to be identified as the author of this work andChristine Grove as the illustrator of this work has been asserted by them

in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission

of the Publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to thispublication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Design byDavid Rose

Printed in China

To Esme, Ellie, Oliver, Grace, Daisy and their mums and dads:Ben, Jessica, Lucy, Tom, Martin and Lisa.

Great-grandma Shirley’s wonderful little brood!Neil x

Neil GriffithsIllustrated by

Christine Grove

Esme was sitting cosily, as she usually did duringthe laying season, in her snug nesting box. Perchedjust above her, Arthur the cockerel noisilywelcomed in the morningas he always did, whilstoutside some of the henswere already pecking forgrubs as they endlessly did.

Beneath Esme, warmed by her fluffy feathers,nestled one brown and slightly speckled egg.But as he regularly did, FarmerFerguson arrived and, despiteall her angry protests, shooedEsme from her nest and tookthe egg she hadso proudly laid.

“Why,” thought Esme, “after all this effort did he always takeher precious egg?” After all, it was HER egg, not HIS!Esme decided enough was enough and she hatched a plan!

The following day began as italways did. Arthur was in full cry.There was lots of pecking outside.But a determined Esme was inposition in her box.

Farmer Ferguson arrived asusual and began to shooEsme. Esme sat firmly!Today she was notfor shooing!

Farmer Ferguson tried again.Still Esme didn’t budge.

Tired of shooing, Farmer Fergusonsimply lifted a furious Esme up inthe air, removed her brown andslightly speckled egg and ploppedher unceremoniously backon her nest.

Esme was furious! So shehatched another plan.

The following morning, Arthur was at it again, therewas plenty of pecking outside, which goes withoutsaying, but no Esme in her nesting box! Esme hadcraftily found another spot to lay her egg and wasnesting smugly at the back of the barn.

But her smug look was not to last long, as Farmer Fergusonspotted her tail feathers protruding above the bucket. He liftedEsme up and this time, flung her through the barn door.

Over the days that followed, Esme did all shecould to outwit the farmer. First it was in a wheelbarrow, theninside the tractor cab and finally she even braved the lowerbranches of an apple tree. But each time, Farmer Fergusonfound her and removed her brown and slightly speckled egg.Esme returned to her nesting box, ruffled but not beaten.She had hatched a further cunning plan.

The following morning, there was Arthur’s usualperformance, non-stop pecking outside butunusually there was no Esme, although one brownand slightly speckled egg did lie in the nesting box.

A surprised Farmer Ferguson took the egg andset off back to the farmhouse.

Esme, who had only briefly abandoned the egg and had beenlurking beneath the chicken coup, followed behind him.She watched as he entered the outhouse at the side of thefarmhouse and then waited in hiding until he came out again.

Once the coast was clear, she enteredthe shed and, to her surprise, foundit was full of eggs on shelves, setout neatly in rows.

But Esme knew her egg anywhereand spotted it instantly in a tray. Shefluttered her way onto the shelf andsettled down on her beloved egg.There, she sat more determinedthan ever till the following day.

The chicken and the egg!Comb

Tail feathers

Saddle

Back

Eye

Ear

Beak

Nostril

Neck

Shoulder

BreastWing

Thigh

Shank

Ankle

Hock

Contour featherscover the body

Chickens originated from South-East Asia but dueto the migration of people, over a long period oftime, can now be found all over the world.

In the UK, adult male chickens are called cocks,whereas in North America they are calledroosters. Males under a year old are cockerels.Females over a year old are known as hens, andyounger females are pullets. A general term usedfor a chicken is chook. Babies are called chicks.

There are two types of chicken – pure breedsand hybrids. Purebreeds have beenspecifically bred toshow certain traitsand features. A hybrid is a typical brown hen,like Esme, which hasbeen especially bredto be a robust birdand a good egg-layer.

It is estimated that at any one moment there areapproximately 20 billion chickens in the world!

Chickens will eat mostthings, but domesticanimals are fed wholewheat, grit and specialpellets containingall the essentialnutrients and vitaminsthey require.

Free range is a termwhich means that thechickens have beenallowed to roam freelyinstead of beingcontained in any manner.

Eggs are oval in shape,allowing them to roll in acircular direction, butmeaning they will neverroll far from the nest.

Egg colour is normallyrelated to the colour ofthe chickens’ ears - redears produce browneggs, white ears produce white eggs.

Depending on the breed of hen, it may lay a feweggs over many years or a lot of eggs over afew years.

29 million eggs a day are consumed in the UK.

The colour of egg yolk will be a deeper yellow ifthe chickens eat more grass.

Bad eggs float!

Eggs make a great mealand are full of nutrients andprotein. They can be boiled,poached, fried, scrambledor make a great omelette.

ES

ME ’S

EG

GNeil G

riffithsIllustrated by Christine G

roveR

edRobin

Neil GriffithsIllustrated by

Christine Grove9 781905434978

ISBN 978-1-905434-97-8

www.redrobinbooks.com

£6.99

Farmer Ferguson’s refusal to leaveEsme’s eggs alone, wherever shetries to hide them, leads her to laydown the law on egg collectiononce and for all. This decisionleads to one of the most eggcitingadventures of her life with acrackingly good conclusion!