The only female offspring of Spillers, a highly intelligent hen, and Massey-Harris, a brash, brave rooster, Ransome, Sims, and Jefferies prove themselves special shortly after birth. Like all chickens of Foxearth Farm, Ransome, Sims, and Jefferies are named from scraps of human writing found around the barn. On occasion a lucky fox nabs a complacent hen, but even that might end with the birth of three extraordinary pullets. They're killed by foxes much less often than once was the case, and Farmer Farmer (yes, that's the farmer's name!) is glad. The chickens have also developed the true ability to fly, which makes escaping from predators a cinch. Because the chickens caught first were always the foolish ones, natural selection has steered the farm's chicken population to be smarter, faster, and have better eyesight to detect foxes lurking in the shadows. On Foxearth Farm, foxes have always preyed on chickens, but recently the pecking order is changing. Debuting in 1978, The Fox Busters was Dick King-Smith's first novel, and its theme of the bullied fighting back would remain a mainstay of the author's work for the rest of his career.
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