Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

A heartfelt thank you again so much to all those who have expressed their sympathy for Vanille's passing.

I hope at least I will be able to cope better! I was expecting the first chicken death to be hard... but I still feel I'm overreacting!
I have very few human friends and since I live in such a remote place I don't see them often, so I guess the chickens have become my close friends.Have I become that crazy old bat who cares only about her pets ?
It was also the first time I held a living creature to it's end. I won't forget the last minute when she woke, the look she had.

You are very welcome to join the crazy old bat club. We love our animals and we are not such bad people. I am definitely a member of that club!

 

[Marie2020]

Looks kinda like an awkward family reunion.

Far from it, they were chatting away enjoying digging in the mud and their treats.
They have lost 3 of their friends since new year, 2 this past month it's been heart breaking for them and I have cried buckets.

I'm comforted knowing they are getting on. Except when little Tina grabs the food out of princesses beak then there's a real commotion.

 

[fuentemoon]

So warning for a long post, including a lot of pictures to make it less tedious! And thank you again Bybob for hosting it.

Good bye to Vanille

She was our little alpha hen, sassy with us and a pain in the other hen's butt. We got her with our five other hens from a battery in January 2020, aged only three months as all others rescues had already been given out. Although she had trouble laying from the start she was a brave fighter, full of joy and will to live. She had many passions : drinking running water, eating snow and hail, escaping from the chicken zone to explore the garden, helping out my partner with whatever he was doing, perching on human shoulders, and most of all, eating cherries.

Because we had to care a lot for her due to her health issues she was our only hen that enjoyed cuddles, falling asleep on our knees or gently pecking our bellies.
We called her The Hen's Trade union because she knew how to ask loudly for whatever she wanted until she got it.

She was 33 months and I know she enjoyed her life here very much.

I have very few picture as a pullet. Here she is climbing the ladder.
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Enjoying the garden, 10 June 2020
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Eating hail! May 2021.
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One of so many warm bath to help an egg come out. August 2021
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Found some grapes! She was very sick at the time and we were letting her wander in the garden to make her want to live. September 2021.
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Hard molt just after recovery
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Then she ate a snake to celebrate her new feathers, November 2021
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Love the snow for the last time, February 2022
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I think I dropped something, mars 2022
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And I thought this was my lunch , may 2022.
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My partner was her whole world.
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Good bye beautiful Vanille
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Finally a short clip with her beloved cherry tree.

What a lovely tribute

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Oh dear god, no chick is cuter!

Aww my little Ezzie. Those were the days. The days when I just KNEW mom was wrong and Ezzie was a pullet. Fast forward almost 5 months and I had to eat my words. Ezzie is all boy and crowing every morning now. He just went on a 15 minute crowing spree earlier. Was even crowing back at me if I encouraged it. I run in to grab my camera, he shuts up. I tried for 10 minutes to entice just 1 more crow out of him so I could video it, nothing. He's forgotten how little devil. I've been inside for a few minutes and he is back at it.

 

[lightm]

Aww my little Ezzie. Those were the days. The days when I just KNEW mom was wrong and Ezzie was a pullet. Fast forward almost 5 months and I had to eat my words. Ezzie is all boy and crowing every morning now. He just went on a 15 minute crowing spree earlier. Was even crowing back at me if I encouraged it. I run in to grab my camera, he shuts up. I tried for 10 minutes to entice just 1 more crow out of him so I could video it, nothing. He's forgotten how little devil. I've been inside for a few minutes and he is back at it.
View attachment 3195817View attachment 3195818

So we have Ezra after all. Hi Ezra, you are as beautiful as your mom!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

So we have Ezra after all. Hi Ezra, you are as beautiful as your mom!

No, no, no. We still have a Ezzie. I may have had to admit mom was right and Ezzie is a boy. I do not have to agree to the name change. They can call him Ezra all they want. To me he is still Ezzie. I'll call him Ezekiel and I have when he's been a brat lately before I call him Ezra.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

So, now that Ezzie has discovered his big boy voice he has been getting into mischief lately. He is strutting around showing off to the unimpressed ladies. The girl he really has his sights set on, is way out of his league but he is oblivious. He is enamored with Momma Hen. He tidbits for her, she ignores him. He dances for her, she pecks him on the head. He's tried to chase her a few times, she runs straight to Bubba and he comes skidding to a halt and runs in the opposite direction. The girls who really like him and respond to his tidbitting, the hooligans, he ignores. Those girls are maturing fast and combs are popping and reddening up, Ezzie had better pay attention but he is clueless. He also is too big now for cuddles in front of everyone. Instead of staying put when I would reach down to pick him up he runs just out of reach. I do eventually catch him after a minute or two and proceed to hold him. He used to melt, now he mildly protests for a few minutes before settling down. Branch did this as well when his hormones kicked in. While he does not want to be held during the day guess who is the one demanding night time cuddles first? Yup, Ezzie. He still needs that night time loving when no one else can see. He is just a typical teenage boy now. Thankfully unlike Branch, he is not a fan of my hand.

 

[lightm]

No, no, no. We still have a Ezzie. I may have had to admit mom was right and Ezzie is a boy. I do not have to agree to the name change. They can call him Ezra all they want. To me he is still Ezzie. I'll call him Ezekiel and I have when he's been a brat lately before I call him Ezra.

Yes ma'am.

 

[bgmathteach]

It is not overreacting to feel your feelings! You loved her, just like any other family member, and there will be a hole in your heart. How could you not be sad? Anyone who says you are overreacting has either never loved an animal and felt their love back (each in it's own way), or just plain has a cold heart. (Or, maybe, says that because they don't know how to react to you - so out of a feeling of a loss of words/response, tells you you are overreacting because they just don't know how to deal with it/are uncomfortable acknowledging your emotions.)

I do think it is harder when you are isolated, because you don't have the human support network, and your beloved animals play an even more important role in your life! I am fortunate that my husband understands, and lets me cry with no judgement. In America is isn't 'cool' to be so emotional (in general...we are supposed to be tough, over worked-under paid -still can rise to the top through anything kind of place/people.)

Please, while I don't wish this heartache on you, don't in anyway feel like it is wrong. Spend time with your remaining feathered friends and your partner. Do something good for yourself. Do something to remember Vanille by.: A monument/grave marker, plant a favorite shrub in their chicken run, built a chicken pavillion like @MaryJanet made, create a photo album....anything that feels right to you.

 

[RoyalChick]

So warning for a long post, including a lot of pictures to make it less tedious! And thank you again Bybob for hosting it.

Good bye to Vanille

She was our little alpha hen, sassy with us and a pain in the other hen's butt. We got her with our five other hens from a battery in January 2020, aged only three months as all others rescues had already been given out. Although she had trouble laying from the start she was a brave fighter, full of joy and will to live. She had many passions : drinking running water, eating snow and hail, escaping from the chicken zone to explore the garden, helping out my partner with whatever he was doing, perching on human shoulders, and most of all, eating cherries.

Because we had to care a lot for her due to her health issues she was our only hen that enjoyed cuddles, falling asleep on our knees or gently pecking our bellies.
We called her The Hen's Trade union because she knew how to ask loudly for whatever she wanted until she got it.

She was 33 months and I know she enjoyed her life here very much.

I have very few picture as a pullet. Here she is climbing the ladder.
View attachment 3195387
Enjoying the garden, 10 June 2020
View attachment 3195392

Eating hail! May 2021.
View attachment 3195394

One of so many warm bath to help an egg come out. August 2021
View attachment 3195395
Found some grapes! She was very sick at the time and we were letting her wander in the garden to make her want to live. September 2021.
View attachment 3195383

Hard molt just after recovery
View attachment 3195388

Then she ate a snake to celebrate her new feathers, November 2021
View attachment 3195382

Love the snow for the last time, February 2022
View attachment 3195390
I think I dropped something, mars 2022
View attachment 3195385
And I thought this was my lunch , may 2022.
View attachment 3195381

My partner was her whole world.
View attachment 3195384
Good bye beautiful Vanille
View attachment 3195393
Finally a short clip with her beloved cherry tree.

Manue, that was a beautiful tribute to a lovely hen. She had a wonderful life with you and your partner and was clearly well loved.
I have a suggestion if it isn't too presumptuous, you should put a link to that post in your signature line so anyone reading your posts can read it. I think that would be lovely!