the three Black Minorca pullets

The three Black Minorca pullets emerged as the unlikely leaders of the first organized resistance on Animal Farm since the expulsion of Mr. Jones. When Napoleon announced that the hens must surrender their eggs to be sold under a contract with Mr. Whymper, the pullets led a determined rebellion. Their tactic was to fly up to the rafters and lay their eggs there, so that they smashed to pieces on the floor, denying the regime the produce. The protest lasted five days, during which Napoleon stopped the hens' rations and decreed death for any animal that fed them. The dogs enforced the order. Ultimately the hens capitulated and returned to their nesting boxes, but nine of them had died in the standoff. Their bodies were buried in the orchard and the official explanation was coccidiosis, concealing the true cost of the rebellion.