Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[drumstick diva]

sad but true

 

[BY Bob]

Some Fluff, no Tail

A quick update on Hattie's hard molt. We had a hard freeze Friday night. I hated water frozen 2 inches deep in a bowl. Fortunately Hattie Haas gained some butt coverage while losing all of her tail feathers. She is actually looking a little better.

That big hen that Hattie and Lilly are hanging with is a Christmas decoration that we modified for Halloween with a witches hat. She doesn't have a name yet.

 

[BY Bob]

The Story of Daisy, The Greatest Hen Ever (entry 1)
If you have been following along here for any length of time you know how dear Daisy, the greatest hen ever, was to me. @Ribh and I have discussed how raw her passing is for me even a year later and the idea was arrived at to celebrate her life by sharing her stories with all of you. So I will be remembering and reminiscing about her life in some posts. Some will be straight from memory, others from my photo library of her. I hope that you enjoy reading them as I try take you back through our precious, all too short, time togther.

As with all of hens prior to Maleficent and Aurora, new members of our flock came as a result of tragedy. We had started with 2 hens, Dolly and Trisha. Dolly’s passing was the result of a hawk attack. I actually came outside to see the hawk eating Dolly as he had her pinned to the ground.

To replace Dolly, and at the last minute I might add, we added Elphie. Trisha would pass as a result of egg binding and the resultant prolapse. Although she would live for a couple of months after the event, she never laid another egg. We found her passed in the run one day.
It feels odd to look at this but these are the last photos by date and time that I seem to have of Elphie & Trisha together.

Once again we found ourselves in need of a friend for our lone remaining hen. This time the nearest leghorn available was very far from the house and only a pullet. I had one hard chicken rule from when I was a young lad and we had first gotten Speck, you had to have two chickens. They needed a friend. We could not risk Elphie’s wellbeing so I took a Saturday and set off to gather her up.

When I say Daisy was a pullet, she was barely a pullet. I arrived to pick her up, $10 was the price, and I knew she was going to be handful. This teenage boy had a small building full of leghorn pullets and they ran from him like he was the a hawk intent of eating them, not the human who brought them food and water. It was here that chicken math almost got me. He offered me two for the $10 saying that she should have a friend. I was sorely tempted but I knew my wife was happy with two. I figured the first two incidents were more one-offs than normal and so I did not take the “spare” chicken. Not even a year later I would be taking the “spare” chicken, Lilly, but that is another story.

Here is Daisy in her cardboard box for the long ride home and in hand once we got home.

Her Name
Daisy got her name from a wonderful Japanese animated film called “Daisy, A Hen into the Wild”. The movie is available on YouTube and I have embedded a link below. One rainy Saturday this cartoon was on and I started to watch it just to see what it was about. My wife asked me what I was watching and in minutes was hooked. While it is a children’s movie for some reason it pulled us in. At the end my wife said, “if we ever get another chicken her name is Daisy”.

Next Installment: Daisy meets Elphie

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

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

 

[Ribh]

The Story of Daisy, The Greatest Hen Ever (entry 1)
If you have been following along here for any length of time you know how dear Daisy, the greatest hen ever, was to me. @Ribh and I have discussed how raw her passing is for me even a year later and the idea was arrived at to celebrate her life by sharing her stories with all of you. So I will be remembering and reminiscing about her life in some posts. Some will be straight from memory, others from my photo library of her. I hope that you enjoy reading them as I try take you back through our precious, all too short, time togther.

As with all of hens prior to Maleficent and Aurora, new members of our flock came as a result of tragedy. We had started with 2 hens, Dolly and Trisha. Dolly’s passing was the result of a hawk attack. I actually came outside to see the hawk eating Dolly as he had her pinned to the ground.

To replace Dolly, and at the last minute I might add, we added Elphie. Trisha would pass as a result of egg binding and the resultant prolapse. Although she would live for a couple of months after the event, she never laid another egg. We found her passed in the run one day.
It feels odd to look at this but these are the last photos by date and time that I seem to have of Elphie & Trisha together.
View attachment 1950845
View attachment 1950846

Once again we found ourselves in need of a friend for our lone remaining hen. This time the nearest leghorn available was very far from the house and only a pullet. I had one hard chicken rule from when I was a young lad and we had first gotten Speck, you had to have two chickens. They needed a friend. We could not risk Elphie’s wellbeing and my wife wanted another leghorn so I took a Saturday and set off to gather her up.

When I say Daisy was a pullet, she was barely a pullet. I arrived to pick her up, $10 was the price, and I knew she was going to be handful. This teenage boy had a small building full of leghorn pullets and they ran from him like he was the a hawk intent of eating them, not the human who brought them food and water. It was here that chicken math almost got me. He offered me two for the $10 saying that she should have a friend. I was sorely tempted but I knew my wife was happy with two. I figured the first two incidents were more one-offs than normal and so I did not take the “spare” chicken. Not even a year later I would be taking the “spare” chicken, Lilly, but that is another story.

Here is Daisy in her cardboard box for the long ride home and in hand once we got home.
View attachment 1950842
View attachment 1950844

Her Name
Daisy got her name from a wonderful Japanese animated film called “Daisy, A Hen into the Wild”. The movie is available on YouTube and I have embedded a link below. One rainy Saturday this cartoon was on and I started to watch it just to see what it was about. My wife asked me what I was watching and in minutes was hooked. While it is a children’s movie for some reason it pulled us in. At the end my wife said, “if we ever get another chicken her name is Daisy”.

Next Installment: Daisy meets Elphie

Oh wow! I am so glad you are doing this & we all get to share the stories. Such a pretty girl.

 

[MaryJanet]

Me too - very excited and happy to hear about her life

 

[MaryJanet]

The hawk attack on Dolly must have been devastating.

 

[MaryJanet]

Some Fluff, no Tail

A quick update on Hattie's hard molt. We had a hard freeze Friday night. I hated water frozen 2 inches deep in a bowl. Fortunately Hattie Haas gained some butt coverage while losing all of her tail feathers. She is actually looking a little better.
View attachment 1950729
That big hen that Hattie and Lilly are hanging with is a Christmas decoration that we modified for Halloween with a witches hat. She doesn't have a name yet.

Poor Hattie. Her tooshi looks very bare and sore.

 

[BY Bob]

The hawk attack on Dolly must have been devastating.

The hawk attack on Dolly must have been devastating.

It was one of the worst days ever. To make matters worse, I had no idea hawks would attack them. When I was young hawks were nearly wiped out. If any hawk ever showed up, my dad shot it. I felt completely responsible for being so naive.

In the strangest coincidence ever, I just came into the house after being buzzed by a redtailed hawk. I had just closed the girls in from free ranging all day. We had closed the pool today and I had left some duct tape down on the patio and was going to retrieve it when the hawk flew right by my face and into the neighbor's tree. Here he is without a care in the world.

Bad news for the girls. There will be no free ranging for a while. This guy is brazen flying that close to me.

 

[MaryJanet]

Fingers crossed the hawk finds some tasty mice and rats elsewhere.

 

[BY Bob]

Fingers crossed the hawk finds some tasty mice and rats elsewhere.

I am very concerned. We have not had one here since Hattie was a chick and that was a juvenile hawk.

I did thwart 2 attacks on Daisy, the greatest hen ever, back in the day. I will tell those stories another time.

I have been a little lax on guarding them constantly while they free range. Those days are over. Much less freedom for them now.