The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly characters

Appears from the start

An egg-laying hen confined in a cramped coop, named for the green shoot she can see beyond the barn. Sprout longs to hatch a chick of her own and to live in the open yard. When her body stops producing saleable eggs, she refuses to accept the death chosen for worn-out hens.

First appears in chapter 2

A wild mallard living near the farmyard rather than fully within it. Straggler helps Sprout survive after she leaves the coop and understands dangers that the domesticated birds prefer not to face.

First appears in chapter 2

The dominant male bird in the farmyard. Proud of his comb, his position, and the order of the domestic flock, he regards Sprout's arrival as a challenge to rules that keep outsiders at the edge.

First appears in chapter 2

The senior female chicken of the yard and the mother of the farm's chicks. She protects her place beside Rooster and rejects Sprout's attempt to join the barnyard family.

First appears in chapter 2

A predator hunting around the farm and reservoir. Her pale damaged eye makes her recognizable, and her persistence forces Sprout and Straggler to remain watchful whenever they live beyond the yard's fences.

Also known as Baby

First appears in chapter 5

The duckling hatched from the egg Sprout broods in the briar patch. To Sprout he is simply her child, despite his long legs, webbed feet, and growing need for water. His green-tinted head later gives him the name Greentop.

First appears in chapter 2

The dog charged with guarding the farmyard. He enforces the boundary between the protected domestic animals and creatures living outside, though his obedience to the farmer does not make him needlessly cruel.