By AMY WALKER
The Hemby family received a surprise about six months ago that would impact their lives from that moment on. It was such a surprise to Holly, Galen and Casen Hemby at first they all were in complete shock however 6-year-old Casen adjusted quickly and decided it was a very needed positive impact on his family.
"Late one night as I was going to my car to head to the store I felt something brush up against my leg," stated Holly Hemby, Casen's mom. "So I quickly ran and jumped into my car, not knowing at that point what it was. As I turned on the headlights, there was a chicken right in front of my car!"
Holly called her husband and Casen's Dad, Galen, on her cell phone afraid to get out of the car due to not knowing where the chicken came from. The next morning four more chickens were found on the Hemby property off of CR 499. After searching for days for the rightful owners, the family quickly decided someone must have dumped them since no one claimed them.
Casen quickly decided he wanted to keep them and his parents agreed. These chickens will never have to worry about being claimed again as the little country boy has fallen head over heels for his chickens. Casen, who is a kindergartner at Puxico Elementary, gets the eggs or "buttnuggets" as he calls them every morning and as soon as he steps out into the daylight his chickens come flocking around him. He also coops them up at night and makes sure they have adequate food and water.
"Six months ago I'd never thought we'd have chickens, it's just not something that crossed our minds," stated Holly Hemby. "Now 21 chickens, two roosters and nearly two dozen eggs a day later they have became part of our family."
In fact, one of Casen chickens loves him so much he decided to follow him to school the other day.
"Galen called me at work and said, 'I think we brought one of bubby's chicken to school on accident,' " stated Holly. "I was so embarrassed at first but everyone thought it was a humorous situation and it quickly became big news around the town."
A family friend and next door neighbor to the elementary school, Haley Cobb originally took to Facebook to post about finding a chicken in the school parking lot. Holly left off work a few hours early to try to capture her son's frightened and misplaced chicken. After around two hours of driving around and trying to find the chicken, Cobb messaged Holly saying it was in her driveway. Holly Hemby and Janell Taylor, more commonly known as "Casen's Aunt Nell," along with a school custodian were eventually able to capture the chicken.
It is believed the chicken, also known as Boots, caught a ride on the underneath side of the family truck as Galen Hemby took Casen to school. The family has agreed to look for chickens under every vehicle before they leave their property. Not only for their chickens but also for their four beagles, two blue tick coonhounds, their mini pig named Willow, and even the family fish.