Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[knoturavggrl]

Ask Aurora
Today's Question comes from @RebeccaBoyd Peep and the Marshmallows.

View attachment 3567415

And they ask..........

Dear Aurora,

Hi, it is Peep and my fellow Marshmallow crew here. We caught our hooman mom busy tending to the new chicks and I made a break for it and snuck in her window. We want to know what is "Hooligans" and why is she saying it around us like it is a bad thing? We were not doing anything wrong, just testing out our wings. Yes we were using the neighbors chain link fence like it was a tight rope. Yes we also launched ourselves off it into the top of the tree when she spotted us and came to shoo us down. It was fun! We would have stayed in it longer except dad came around the corner and we did not want to get into trouble with him. Momma Chiquita has given up and now just threatens to tell our father when we have fun. Did you know we can now fly up to the top of the main big roost between the stalls from the ground? Half the other flock cannot do that, they have to use the stall boards. I think we can fly higher, I've been eyeing the roof. Our Hooman mom see this and dares us to do it saying we will get in trouble if she has to climb a ladder and chase us down. Uncle Dirt says do it, we are only young once. Also do you have any advice on how to catch a squirrel? We terrorize the birds and cats that come into the yard but the sneaky squirrel is smart. He jumps as good as we can fly. He stole some of our corn yesterday before we spotted him, the nerve. Our queen Butter says we are growing up and it is time to act like ladies. Acting like respectable ladies sounds boring, do we really have to? If you were our Queen you would not make us act like boring chickens would you? We all agree you would come up with fun games to play. How many Squirrels live at your house? Maybe if we had more then one to chase we could figure out how to catch them. Ooh gotta go, I hear our Hooman coming around the house, do not want to get caught on the computer and be called a hooligan again, I think.

Respectfully yours
Peep and the Marshmallows.


Dear Peep and the Marshmallows,

I have been delayed somewhat in replying to your inquiry. I apologize for that, but a Queen’s life is not easy and there are always things that need to be done. You know, Phyllis needs pecked, I need to steal food from Hattie, Sydney needs reprimanded for something, Glynda needs instruction on what it takes to be a great leader, etc. etc. The demands on my time are endless.

First off, your name, I love it. I swear I heard a song once by a band with that name. I wonder what it was………

Maybe it will come to me later.

My hooman servant tells me you are leghorns. From the way he talks about leghorns you would think they are the best chickens to ever roam the earth. We all know that is not true as you do not have beards and muffs so there is no way you could be the best. He did explain that you have big wings and look much like Glynda. I very much like Glynda. She is willing to take on our cat which is more than 4 times her size. I like a chicken that is not afraid of big challenges and who can punch way above their weight. It kind of sounds like you lot might be much like her. If so, then you are OK in my book.

You are blessed with large wings and can fly well then fly. Fly for all you are worth. Don’t limit yourself to the ground like the rest of us. It is the nature of chickens to explore and be curious. Go flying and have adventures. That way you have stories to tell on the roost at night. This will make you very popular with many other chickens who can’t fly and explore like you. Frankly who wants to hear one more time about the giant nightcrawler that Hattie caught that one time which was so big she could not swallow it all in one bite. She had to pull it back out and break it up so it would fit in her craw. If I have to hear that story one more time……….Well let’s just say we could use a little adventure around here. If you can reach the roof, you go up on the roof and come back and tell everyone else what you saw.

Now squirrel hunting is a serious business. The queen here before me, Lilly, was a great squirrel hunter. She would put on her squirrel hunting hat and she would encourage us all to join in.

View attachment 3567433

Her and Phyllis, if you can believe it, once cornered a squirrel and would have killed it but for the squirrel’s ability to climb. She actually got several whacks on its head before it escaped. My best friend Maleficent was an excellent hunter. She worked with Lilly and the queen before her, Patsy, to organize a chipmunk hunt one time. I participated in this hunt, and we nearly had it when it wiggled under the fence and got away.

What makes a good hunt? Communication and Coordination.

You must talk to each other and work together. You want to spread the marshmallows out and coordinate movements. The idea is to herd the squirrel into an area from where it cannot climb out or run away. You need to identify a fence corner or something similar. Then you need to slowly drive the squirrel towards that location. It is important to tell your teammates when the squirrel is headed their way. Slowly keep driving the squirrel towards the corner. When you finally have the squirrel cornered you will need to take turns attacking its head until you land the knockout blow. Whenever one attacks, the others keep the squirrel cornered. This is the only way to beat the squirrel. They are wily opponents. They are cheeky and will steal your food whenever they can. Lilly was never able to kill one, but she truly believed it possible.

A famous hooman servant named Laurel Thatcher Ulrich once said “Well-behaved women seldom make history”. The same holds true for hens as well. Butter truly sounds like an old bitty. I bet she is an Orpington. Old bitties like to say behave yourself, follow the rules, do things the right way and they will never change anything. They want things to stay as they are. I bet they would love Hattie’s stupid worm story. I bet Butter looks something like this.

View attachment 3567423

You be you. If you want to play in the mud, play in the mud. You white chickens repel mud like water off a duck’s back. You want to chase cats, Glynda likes to chase cats and she kinda looks like a leghorn, you chase cats. You think up a great new game, you play it and encourage others to do so. You want to eat pepper plants in the garden, well you should be careful there. Hooman servants are touchy about their plants. You show everyone how much fun it is to be adventuresome and maybe you can offset the Old Bitties a little bit. Who knows maybe you can change chicken life where you are for the better. Besides, I’m willing to gamble that Butter is unable to catch you to peck you anyway.

I do feel a little reminder is in order. Butter is your better. In most things she will be right. Don’t let her control your fun but you MUST listen to her in all other things. It is “The Way of the Chicken”. Despite everything you are still chickens and need to follow “The Way”.

By the way, I think Hooligan is a compliment. My Hooman servant called me one the other day when I stole Hattie’s tomato............I mean when I replaced Hattie’s overripe tomato with a fresh green one.

Queen Aurora

View attachment 3567434

Hilarious and well scribed Bob, I absolutely love these!

 

[BY Bob]

At the mobile vets - the backyard - mobile x-ray and everything's in a truck flatbed.

Peanut likely has heart failure from cancer tumors, x-rays showed ascites and tumors, she drained almost 660 ml. with two needle punctures.

I have 30 days of Meloxicam for pain (for her not me lol). Will see how quickly the ascites accumulates, whether periodic draining is right given that rate, and decide on her quality of life.

Took Butters with her for company and the vet examined her too. She's very skinny and has a lot of air in her gut. X-rays showed no tumors visible.

Vet advised getting some supplements that, given the little research there is, might help heart health. Also to put some probiotics in one of their waters.
View attachment 3567191
View attachment 3567193

I'm so glad you were able to get her help! 660ml is a lot! I bet she is breathing easier now. She is yet another example of chickens hiding things until it overwhelms them.

The news on Butters should be comforting.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

The difficulty breathing is a result of the fluid in her abdomen. Perhaps you could try draining her yourself. You have to get the fluid out or her organs will start failing from the pressure. @micstrachan has drained her own hen before. Perhaps she can help. That is the immediate issue you need to solve. Then you can start trying to figure out why.

The sad fact is that I have not heard of many hens recovering from ascites. They get relief from the draining but unless you can cure the cause it keeps coming back.

In your case, draining her would hopefully give you time to consult with a professional and start to diagnose.

We are praying for you both.

Thank you, read on and you'll see I managed to get to an avian vet today! And only 50 minutes away from me, plus I think I like her a lot so far, for multiple reasons. She sees all kinds of farm animals but also pet chickens, and keeps her own chickens for eggs only, and she is close to them as pets. She showed me how she did the draining and the strategy of it and talked about it as if I might do it one day, she also was great showing me Peanut's sad xrays and explaining what we were looking at, and she also later on with Butters mentioned tube feeding once or twice as a way to stimulate the appetite and that she could teach me if we got to that point.

River Valley Veterinary Services was recommended by a local vet's office as an outfit that "we've begun working with". Today online it seemed as if they might be at least regional, from the midwest eastward? Local vets who work out of trucks only, all networked through a booking system? I was too stressed to take it in and had to hurry to get things together to be ready to take the pair up there when they called (they were going to give me an hour's notice, because I was about an hour away, when the vet was about an hour from being done with seeing a previous appointment).

 

[BY Bob]

You warned me about egg laying and possible future issues. I was also warned about egg laying issues with the Cinnamon Queens. The 2 queens do lay large brown eggs, but not near the number they *technically* should. They average about 5 a week, on par with my non production girls. They have not went broody or taken a break since they began laying about 10 months ago though so that could hurt them in the long run. I also have gotten maybe 6 double yolk eggs from them and I do not think a single soft shelled egg. I hoped the leghorns would buck the trend and be sort of like the queens and not live up to their reputation. At this point if I wanted to I could not take a chance to even set a egg from them for fear of double yolks to have offspring of theirs. My favorite Peep with the biggest floppy comb is the layer of the huge double yolk egg. Of course it would be that way.

I'm so very sorry that this is the outcome. I truly was hoping you could beat the odds. One or two may still. You never know.

 

[BY Bob]

Tonight I saw him discipline someone couldn’t se who it was but he caused someone to take off fast!

Excellent. They have a chance to develop into good boys then.

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you, read on and you'll see I managed to get to an avian vet today! And only 50 minutes away from me, plus I think I like her a lot so far, for multiple reasons. She sees all kinds of farm animals but also pet chickens, and keeps her own chickens for eggs only, and she is close to them as pets. She showed me how she did the draining and the strategy of it and talked about it as if I might do it one day, she also was great showing me Peanut's sad xrays and explaining what we were looking at, and she also later on with Butters mentioned tube feeding once or twice as a way to stimulate the appetite and that she could teach me if we got to that point.

River Valley Veterinary Services was recommended by a local vet's office as an outfit that "we've begun working with". Today online it seemed as if they might be at least regional, from the midwest eastward? Local vets who work out of trucks only, all networked through a booking system? I was too stressed to take it in and had to hurry to get things together to be ready to take the pair up there when they called (they were going to give me an hour's notice, because I was about an hour away, when the vet was about an hour from being done with seeing a previous appointment).

I did catch up. Sorry I wasn't online this afternoon so I could respond sooner.

 

[knoturavggrl]

The tweens are finally roosting with the bigs at night. They have chosen to all line up between the wall and Brownie who still seems to be keeping tabs on them. She definitely isn’t treating them as babies but she also hasn’t completely let them go either its rather sweet. They are coming up on 9 weeks now.
I was watching them all yesterday and the boys seem be beginning to co-rooster, one stays with the girls the other is clearly on lookout duty both for threats and for the other big girls who might swing by for a peck or quick chase when they are out.

Avalon

Lore

Size comparison the “babies vs my two largest OG hens. They are getting so bigs and are definitely starting to get that bowling ball shape.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ask Aurora
Today's Question comes from @RebeccaBoyd Peep and the Marshmallows.

View attachment 3567415

And they ask..........

Dear Aurora,

Hi, it is Peep and my fellow Marshmallow crew here. We caught our hooman mom busy tending to the new chicks and I made a break for it and snuck in her window. We want to know what is "Hooligans" and why is she saying it around us like it is a bad thing? We were not doing anything wrong, just testing out our wings. Yes we were using the neighbors chain link fence like it was a tight rope. Yes we also launched ourselves off it into the top of the tree when she spotted us and came to shoo us down. It was fun! We would have stayed in it longer except dad came around the corner and we did not want to get into trouble with him. Momma Chiquita has given up and now just threatens to tell our father when we have fun. Did you know we can now fly up to the top of the main big roost between the stalls from the ground? Half the other flock cannot do that, they have to use the stall boards. I think we can fly higher, I've been eyeing the roof. Our Hooman mom see this and dares us to do it saying we will get in trouble if she has to climb a ladder and chase us down. Uncle Dirt says do it, we are only young once. Also do you have any advice on how to catch a squirrel? We terrorize the birds and cats that come into the yard but the sneaky squirrel is smart. He jumps as good as we can fly. He stole some of our corn yesterday before we spotted him, the nerve. Our queen Butter says we are growing up and it is time to act like ladies. Acting like respectable ladies sounds boring, do we really have to? If you were our Queen you would not make us act like boring chickens would you? We all agree you would come up with fun games to play. How many Squirrels live at your house? Maybe if we had more then one to chase we could figure out how to catch them. Ooh gotta go, I hear our Hooman coming around the house, do not want to get caught on the computer and be called a hooligan again, I think.

Respectfully yours
Peep and the Marshmallows.


Dear Peep and the Marshmallows,

I have been delayed somewhat in replying to your inquiry. I apologize for that, but a Queen’s life is not easy and there are always things that need to be done. You know, Phyllis needs pecked, I need to steal food from Hattie, Sydney needs reprimanded for something, Glynda needs instruction on what it takes to be a great leader, etc. etc. The demands on my time are endless.

First off, your name, I love it. I swear I heard a song once by a band with that name. I wonder what it was………

Maybe it will come to me later.

My hooman servant tells me you are leghorns. From the way he talks about leghorns you would think they are the best chickens to ever roam the earth. We all know that is not true as you do not have beards and muffs so there is no way you could be the best. He did explain that you have big wings and look much like Glynda. I very much like Glynda. She is willing to take on our cat which is more than 4 times her size. I like a chicken that is not afraid of big challenges and who can punch way above their weight. It kind of sounds like you lot might be much like her. If so, then you are OK in my book.

You are blessed with large wings and can fly well then fly. Fly for all you are worth. Don’t limit yourself to the ground like the rest of us. It is the nature of chickens to explore and be curious. Go flying and have adventures. That way you have stories to tell on the roost at night. This will make you very popular with many other chickens who can’t fly and explore like you. Frankly who wants to hear one more time about the giant nightcrawler that Hattie caught that one time which was so big she could not swallow it all in one bite. She had to pull it back out and break it up so it would fit in her craw. If I have to hear that story one more time……….Well let’s just say we could use a little adventure around here. If you can reach the roof, you go up on the roof and come back and tell everyone else what you saw.

Now squirrel hunting is a serious business. The queen here before me, Lilly, was a great squirrel hunter. She would put on her squirrel hunting hat and she would encourage us all to join in.

View attachment 3567433

Her and Phyllis, if you can believe it, once cornered a squirrel and would have killed it but for the squirrel’s ability to climb. She actually got several whacks on its head before it escaped. My best friend Maleficent was an excellent hunter. She worked with Lilly and the queen before her, Patsy, to organize a chipmunk hunt one time. I participated in this hunt, and we nearly had it when it wiggled under the fence and got away.

What makes a good hunt? Communication and Coordination.

You must talk to each other and work together. You want to spread the marshmallows out and coordinate movements. The idea is to herd the squirrel into an area from where it cannot climb out or run away. You need to identify a fence corner or something similar. Then you need to slowly drive the squirrel towards that location. It is important to tell your teammates when the squirrel is headed their way. Slowly keep driving the squirrel towards the corner. When you finally have the squirrel cornered you will need to take turns attacking its head until you land the knockout blow. Whenever one attacks, the others keep the squirrel cornered. This is the only way to beat the squirrel. They are wily opponents. They are cheeky and will steal your food whenever they can. Lilly was never able to kill one, but she truly believed it possible.

A famous hooman servant named Laurel Thatcher Ulrich once said “Well-behaved women seldom make history”. The same holds true for hens as well. Butter truly sounds like an old bitty. I bet she is an Orpington. Old bitties like to say behave yourself, follow the rules, do things the right way and they will never change anything. They want things to stay as they are. I bet they would love Hattie’s stupid worm story. I bet Butter looks something like this.

View attachment 3567423

You be you. If you want to play in the mud, play in the mud. You white chickens repel mud like water off a duck’s back. You want to chase cats, Glynda likes to chase cats and she kinda looks like a leghorn, you chase cats. You think up a great new game, you play it and encourage others to do so. You want to eat pepper plants in the garden, well you should be careful there. Hooman servants are touchy about their plants. You show everyone how much fun it is to be adventuresome and maybe you can offset the Old Bitties a little bit. Who knows maybe you can change chicken life where you are for the better. Besides, I’m willing to gamble that Butter is unable to catch you to peck you anyway.

I do feel a little reminder is in order. Butter is your better. In most things she will be right. Don’t let her control your fun but you MUST listen to her in all other things. It is “The Way of the Chicken”. Despite everything you are still chickens and need to follow “The Way”.

By the way, I think Hooligan is a compliment. My Hooman servant called me one the other day when I stole Hattie’s tomato............I mean when I replaced Hattie’s overripe tomato with a fresh green one.

Queen Aurora

View attachment 3567434

Oh Queen Aurora - Rebecca is in for it now hahahaha you have given such sage advice once again.

Enabling and encouraging! Way to go Queen Aurora , as a mere Hooman I am always amazed at the trouble you hooligans can get into!

Why just today a week old chick here slipped through a very small opening in their compound and was making for the hills exploring the big barn out with the big chooks! I am thinking it must be a leghorn of some sort.

As such I really feel I must protect this youngster from the advise you are giving to Peep and the Marshmallows.

As always I do respect you rule and ensuring that chooks follow the way of the chicken - just not when they are a week old.

Yours respectfully

Hooman Kelly

 

[BY Bob]

Ah, Queen Aurora, funny as always! You are such an amazing writer @BY Bob!

You are very kind to say so.

 

[BY Bob]

I will try to tempt her with scrambled eggs tomorrow if she doesn't want pellets.

Scrambled eggs would be my go to but I would also give her all her favorites too see what she might eat. She will need nutrition if she is going to pick up and enjoy some life.