Cowgirl Commentaries: Thunder Chicken

This is the story of Thunder Chicken...

Zach was a 2nd grader at Johnstown Elementary. They were having a class project of incubating eggs. Each kid got to pick out an egg and write there name on it. If the egg hatched, they could take it home. Zach's ended up hatching (and living) so he took it home. His dad and he were brainstorming for a name and his dad suggested Thunder Chicken. Zach loved it and from then on she was known as Thunder Chicken Lanka.

At the time, they had no other chickens so TC was kept in a box until she got older. Zach was constantly playing with her and carrying her around. She became so tame that she started following them around just like a dog. One day Marla and Aaron went to town to do errands. They parked on Main Street and went into the Post Office. When they came out they saw a black hen pecking in the dirt underneath the pickup. It was Thunder Chicken!! She had rode all the way to town in the engine compartment. Not a feather was missing!

As soon as Thunder Chicken was grown up, Zach took her back to school for Show-and-Tell. (His was the only one that lived to be a pet). After showing her off to everyone, he put her back in the cardboard box. She clucked for the rest of the day and the other kids kept going over there to pet her. I'm sure his teacher was thrilled.

Zach and Aaron would take her fishing and she would try to eat a worm whole. She would cough and choke and fall over dramatically. Then eat another one and do the same thing. She would also eat any food scraps. One year she hatched five baby chicks and raised them.

There big debut came when Zach took Thunder Chicken to the County Fair. They enetered in the 4-H show competition at the fairgrounds. There was a big long table and everyone was supposed to put their chicken on it so the judge could start critiquing. Zach plopped TC down and she didn't move a muscle. She calmly sat there and clucked. The other chickens were trying to run away while there owners scambled to grab their feet and contain them. Zach and TC ended up winning the purple ribbon and a trophy (which is still at Zach's folk's house). The judge commented to Zach that he had been judging chickens for quite a few years and that TC was by far the nicest one he had encountered. Thunder Chicken's reward was a Snicker's bar that she had to share with Zach.

I wish I had the picture for you to see of Zach and Thunder Chicken. Imagine a freckle-faced little boy grinning from ear to ear with a big, fat, black chicken resting under his arm.

So I wasn't surprised when Zach brought home three baby chicks the other day and told me it was our new project.