Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

And here they all are after carrying madam Fat Bird to her breakfast.
Treacle is here but eying up my boot with amorous intent given dad won't let him near any of the hens.

 

[MaryJanet]

Thank you.

I'm sorry you lost her in that way. It would sit heavily on my conscience too. On the other hand, she had a great life you which I'm sure she would tell you herself if she could

 

[RoyalChick]

No chickens allowed here but thought i would post a pretty reminder that not all is bad in the world for @drumstick diva and @MaryJanet who are feeling out of sorts in different ways.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm sorry you lost her in that way. It would sit heavily on my conscience too. On the other hand, she had a great life you which I'm sure she would tell you herself if she could

We all have regrets in our lives. This sits at the top of my list and it is very hard to share. It is tough to admit failure such as this.

It drives me to be better everytime I'm with them or something happens to one. All you can do is be better but I will always live with the fact that this happened on my watch.

I let my friend down and she paid the ultimate price.

I won't let it happen again if it is at all possible.

I thought I might feel the same about Maleficent's death. I don't. I miss her greatly (almost as much as Daisy) but I just don't feel the same level of responsibility. Maybe I'm lying to myself.

 

[BY Bob]

No chickens allowed here but thought i would post a pretty reminder that not all is bad in the world for @drumstick diva and @MaryJanet who are feeling out of sorts in different ways.
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That is beautiful. Wow! Is that in your yard?

 

[RoyalChick]

That is beautiful. Wow! Is that in your yard?

Yes! They are Muscari (grape hyacinths). I love them and let them spread everywhere!

 

[BY Bob]

Yes! They are Muscari (grape hyacinths). I love them and let them spread everywhere!

They are gorgeous. I may plant some now.

 

[Kris5902]

Elphie’s Time

Elphie came to live with us early in early in 2014 and would be gone by the end of October in 2015. Her impact on Fluffy Butt Acres far outweighs her brief time with us. I’ve told the first part of her story here.

Jan 7, 2020. The Story of Elphie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluffy-butt-acres-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/page-365

This the rest of her story. It covers only 5 months. The all too short time that her and Daisy, the greatest hen ever, had together.

Here are Elphie and Daisy the day Daisy came to live with us.
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I had never mixed a pullet and a full grown hen together before. I simply threw them together, can you imagine! I actually thought that Elphie would be glad for the company. It is surprising that poor Daisy survived it. Elphie had been second of two with Trisha being in charge. She was not going to let Daisy take over. I actually had to intervene at roosting time several times early on to stop the abuse.

Eventually, as Daisy grew, they would reach an equilibrium and roosting time would calm down. Here they are safely roosted together. You can see that Daisy was still keeping her distance, just in case.

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Human Food

I’ve said previously that Elphie was the first hen to show an interest in what I was doing. This resulted in her coming to see what we were doing when outside, especially when we were eating.

Elphie loved human food. All of my hens since then have as well but Elphie was the first that made a point of coming around to see what we were eating. Of course this led to her trying almost everything we ate. She even taught Trisha that human food was good. One of Elphie’s favorites was cheesecake. Here are Trisha and Elphie enjoying a piece of cheesecake.
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And Old Messy face herself.
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A Lot of what made Daisy the greatest hen ever was taught to her by Elphie. Daisy figured out pretty quickly that us humans were OK and could even be conned out of some pretty good food. One of my favorites is the time my wife just set the remaining lasagna on the ground for them. I was horrified. It is one of my favorites. My wife just felt that the ladies deserved a treat as well. Here they are enjoying the lasagna. Check out the original coop in the background.
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Of course every hen loves mealy worms and Elphie was no different.
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The pool skimmer is another source of food that Daisy would come to dominate. After Her Patsy did so and now Lilly does. This lesson was clearly passed down from alpha hen to alpha hen. This was a particularly good night for the ladies as after the skimmer feast they then got mealy worms. A great night indeed.

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As you can probably surmise from the lasagna, Elphie loved tomatoes and tomato sauce. One of the rules she established and Daisy would furiously enforce was that any tomato in the garden that she could reach was hers. She would patrol the garden fence every day looking for tomatoes that she could knock off of the vines and eat.

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Cuteness
Like every hen Elphie loved a great sun bath. She went all out when she did it and spread out like a flower opening into the sun.

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And then there is this picture of her in the winter. She looks like a drawing of a hen the way she is standing. A one foot stander too. So cute!

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Elphie was the first hen to make her way into the living room. She ran into the house to escape a dog that was chasing her around the backyard. The next hen to reach the living room would be Maleficent.

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Staying Cool

In the heat of the summer Elphie would spend most days under the grape vines. If you walked past she would come out to check and make sure that you did not happen to have any snacks. You can see she taught this one to Daisy as well. Daisy can be seen behind the grape leaves in the background.

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The Pool
Like most of the hens, Elphie fell in the pool. The first time that Elphie fell in I was there to rescue her and warm her up.

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It would be the second time she fell in the pool that haunts me to this day.

As everyone knows that reads my thread, ever since the hawk killed Dolly, free ranging alone was restricted. It was a very late October day, the sun was out and I was working from home. So I moved to the table on the deck and let the ladies out for some free range time. The pool was still open because we were holding a Halloween party and my wife loved it when I set the pool light to green and ran the pool heater. That would make the pool steam. It was a pretty cool effect. Of course, the pool water was very cold as I only turned the heater on for the party.

Everything was fine, the ladies were having a great time, it was warm enough that it was quite enjoyable out on the deck. Then I got a phone call from work. I needed to run through something with someone and in order to do so I needed to print something out. Of course the printer was back in my office. I hit the print button on my computer and headed in to grab the printout. My intention was to take the printout back outside. Instead, and I will never forgive myself for this, I grabbed the printout and subconsciously sat down at my desk.

Now my office is on the other side of the house from the backyard and all the windows were closed so I heard nothing.

After about no more than 5 – 10 minutes I wrapped up the call and came back outside. My heart stopped. I could not find the ladies and they did not come when called. Eventually I found Daisy hiding under the deck. I checked everywhere and could not find Elphie. I had run out of places to look and was standing in the yard wondering what to do when I saw her.

She floating in the pool, slowly drifting in a circle around the shallow end laying on her side.
I pulled her from the pool and tried to revive her by rubbing her.

She was stone cold. There was no reviving her.

She was gone.

My fault for leaving them unattended. I knew better.

This is the last photo I have of her.

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New Flockmates
The deaths of Dolly and Trisha hurt, Elphie’s broke me. My wife was done. No more chickens she said. It hurts too much. Too much tragedy. And for a while I was with her.

The problem was Daisy.

I could tell already she was special. I could not let her go. Instead I found hens in need of rescue, Patsy and Lilly. Here they are the first time they experienced grass under their feet 11/2/2015.

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Daisy's Story
I have been telling Daisy's story here but it has taken several months. Here are links to the story. I am listing them in the chronology of Daisy's life, not the timeline in which I have written them.

Jan 7, 2020. The Story of Elphie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluffy-butt-acres-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/page-365

April 11, 2020. Elphie’s Time. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-22424389

Nov 3, 2019. The Story of Daisy, the greatest Hen Ever (Entry 1). https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluffy-butt-acres-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/page-210

Dec 14, 2019. Daisy meets Elphie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-of-our-flock.1286630/page-281#post-22020233

Thank you so much for sharing this Bob. You’ve gone and made me cry again... she was a beautiful girl and I’m sure she knew how much you loved her.

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you so much for sharing this Bob. You’ve gone and made me cry again... she was a beautiful girl and I’m sure she knew how much you loved her.

Thanks Kris. I knew how much you liked the old stories and didn't want you to miss it. She was special to me and I do believe she knew it.

I've missed you around here but I'm glad you are well.

 

[chicken_fun]

Introducing the current residents of Fluffy Butt Acres

As you can see from the front of the coop, we currently have 4 residents. Patsy, Lilly, Hattie & Jabber.
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Patsy & Lilly have been here the longest and we ar enot really certain what kind of birds they are but they are likely Black Sex Links. Hattie and Jabber have just joined the flock this summer as they were chicks we got back in April. Here are their individual photos.

Patsy
She is our alpha hen and is extremely friendly. While not a big fan of being picked up she comes right up to you and will talk and visit.
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Lilly is currently #2 in the pecking order and intends to stay there. She has become our little enforcer and she defends the flock from such terrors as squirrels, rabbits, doves, and most importantly, ducks.
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More to come on our newbies.

Such cuties ! I love seeing pictures of all the cute chicks.