Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ManueB]

@BY Bob congratulations on the roof. It looks quite nice and discreet. And for a first time working with that material it seems like things went really well! Must be due to Aurora's supervision as she is certainly an extremely intelligent chickens that knows how to get things done. And I must say now she has an alliance with Mrs By Bob I'm slightly worried about you .

For thirsty Thursday. Lovely Diana only a few short days ago.
Poor girl is not doing well today.
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Thinking of you both and I hope you get a bit more time to gossip with her.
I struggled with the same thought about birthdays for my ex-batts, but I think I am now convinced that quality of life and a peaceful departure mean more. Chickens live in the present and only think about birthdays if we give them a birthday special treat.
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My four ex-batts for thirsty Thursday. This is staged- I used their treat bowl to put the water in so they would all come. Only Blanche wasn't interested as she had finished her daily scrambled egg.

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Finally I want to share with you something completely off topic but I know a bunch of you like weird animals including...camels. It's not new but I only read about it today : Alheda’a, the language used by Saudi camel keepers to communicate with their flock, was integrated to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.

 

[RoyalChick]

@BY Bob congratulations on the roof. It looks quite nice and discreet. And for a first time working with that material it seems like things went really well! Must be due to Aurora's supervision as she is certainly an extremely intelligent chickens that knows how to get things done. And I must say now she has an alliance with Mrs By Bob I'm slightly worried about you .

Thinking of you both and I hope you get a bit more time to gossip with her.
I struggled with the same thought about birthdays for my ex-batts, but I think I am now convinced that quality of life and a peaceful departure mean more. Chickens live in the present and only think about birthdays if we give them a birthday special treat.
**********
My four ex-batts for thirsty Thursday. This is staged- I used their treat bowl to put the water in so they would all come. Only Blanche wasn't interested as she had finished her daily scrambled egg.
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Finally I want to share with you something completely off topic but I know a bunch of you like weird animals including...camels. It's not new but I only read about it today : Alheda’a, the language used by Saudi camel keepers to communicate with their flock, was integrated to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.

Thank you for the camel video - that was fun to see.
Yes, I know Diana doesn't care about her birthday - it was more of a personal milestone for me. I have a sort of background feeling that I have let down my chickens somehow because I lost so many so early. I know that isn't rational, but it would have made me feel less of a failure as a chicken tender to have had one that lived to four years.

 

[ManueB]

Thank you for the camel video - that was fun to see.
Yes, I know Diana doesn't care about her birthday - it was more of a personal milestone for me. I have a sort of background feeling that I have let down my chickens somehow because I lost so many so early. I know that isn't rational, but it would have made me feel less of a failure as a chicken tender to have had one that lived to four years.

I think you are an incredible chicken keeper, one of those I've been looking up to on this site. I'm truly sorry that there has been so many losses through your chicken journey but the way you have dealt with them has been both inspiring and food for thoughts to me. And I think you gave each of your chickens a wonderful life and the best care possible always in respect of their dignity.

 

[RoyalChick]

I think you are an incredible chicken keeper, one of those I've been looking up to on this site. I'm truly sorry that there has been so many losses through your chicken journey but the way you have dealt with them has been both inspiring and food for thoughts to me. And I think you gave each of your chickens a wonderful life and the best care possible always in respect of their dignity.

Thank you. That helps.

 

[Grandma The Chicken]

I'm so happy Parmesan is growing her feather back. They'll get dirty again but enjoy the cleanliness while I'm at it. Mozzarella is still in desperate need to grow a tail and have clean feathers like Parmesan.

This is the perfect lock screen background for your phone, tablet or laptop, is it not? Okay, maybe not laptop but the other two options work well.

These three pictures show that Parmesan wants to tell you your future is bright. I love the nice sunset and lucky enough to get a photo of that white cloud streak up in the sky. Parmesan is not heavy, weighing about 2-3 lbs (or 0.90-1.36 kg if you live by other measurements outside of the U.S.) but I could barely hold her up any longer so this is the highest she could go. Holding your phone with one hand and holding a chicken with the other is extremely difficult. Don't even ask me to try this with Grandma. She weighs 5 lbs (2.2 kg)! Tony is very fidgety (that's why I say IN A MINUTE!) so don't ask me to do this with her as well.
I am confused though. Why is Tony always acting so frightened? Is it because she's traumatized by her other identical twin sister, Security Guard dying? Okay, well she died like 4 years ago. No one can move on with death but it drives me nuts. Grandma is nowhere near affected by Security Guard's death. I tried to find a photo of Security Guard but my tablet stopped working years ago and Google Photos has no record of photos with her in them. I'll keep looking though. Our family has changed devices since then.

There will be more later.

 

[GregnLety]

Thank you. That helps.

RC I agree with Manue. Don't get discouraged. We started our flock 4 years ago, no ex battery hens and we lost over half of the original members. Death is a part of life. We have several offspring from the original group so in a way they live on. Hold your head up, you're doing great and I know your gals love you for it.

 

[featherhead007]

My experience with chooks is rather sad. The ones that touched my heart deepest, are usually the ones who die prematurely. Either getting sick from ingesting something, or a run in with a bad neighbor. I have yet to have a chook die of old age.

 

[Ponypoor]

A New Strategy
It seems Aurora has instituted a new policy and the early returns for the tribe are quite good.

To understand the change you need to know a little about how things work around here.

Mrs BY Bob will throw snacks out into the deck anytime chickens show up at the backdoor. In the past this is not too much of an issue as she worked during the winter and never saw them during the daylight hours except on weekends. However, Mrs BY Bob retired last February. With the constant snow cover last winter nothing really changed.

This winter there has been no snow cover. Not more than a couple of hours.

So what alerted me to the change?

We ran out of meal worms yesterday.

Those meal worms should have lasted another month!

So how has Aurora gotten the tribe more snacks?

She has stationed 2 hens at the backdoor all day long. There are always two of them staring into the house. That way every time Mrs BY Bob passes the backdoor, there are chickens awaiting snacks and she tosses some out.

I can't get over how smart this is. It has been super effective. I have had a discussion with Mrs BY Bob but I doubt anything with change.

Here are two of them on duty at the backdoor. Waiting patiently.

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Mrs BY Bob is being played like a fiddle.

Seems to me that they have her well trained - and that is the Way of the Chicken with their minions!

 

[BY Bob]

That is simultaneously: genius, adorable, and hilarious!
Maybe you need to give Mrs. BY Bob a daily ration to share with her friends for their own good.

I do think this is where I'm headed.

 

[BY Bob]

For thirsty Thursday. Lovely Diana only a few short days ago.
Poor girl is not doing well today.
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