Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ribh]

There's a local guy here around my age. He used to be a shepherd in these mountains. He does still take flocks out but it's occasional. He drinks and plays bass guitar in a band.
He's as badly turned out as I am but he can walk through my door right passed the chickens without causing panic, they just scurry out of his way. He talks to the chickens when he comes by. He walks in the mountains in his spare time and stops here to get water. He's helped out with the sheep a donkeys in the past. Interesting man.

My maternal grandfather was like that. Old Scotsman. Bit rough round the edges but small children & all animals adored him. My OD screamed @ all males, including her father, for the first 3 years of her life but Poppy could pick her up & walk her round the home paddock talking quietly too her in a brogue that was as broad the day he died as when he 1st arrived here & she'd just gaze up @ him adoringly. It's a gift.

 

[BY Bob]

My half brother arrived today on a short notice short stay visit.
Chicken were very funny. Tap, Moon and Tyle, Mel's two pullets and their brother wandered into the house mid morning. Moon had come tearing down the path and turned straight into the house doorway. She had got in about a meter when she realised someone else was here. She did an almost perfect vertical take off and shot straight out again.
Tribe 1 kind of hovered around the door, making occasional quick forays to the feed tray near the door. Within seconds of my half brother leaving the house they all piled in clucking and tutting. Moon and Tyle headed straight for the arm chair a wiggled in making themselves comfortable.
Treacle, the junior rooster in Tribe 1 who has imprinted me as a tribe member came into the house and hackle flashed by half brother when he was sitting in the arm chair.
I scooped Treacle up, just in case, and sat him on my palm, my forefinger and middle finger either side of his thigh and deposited him outside.

I see the same behavior when strangers enter our backyard. They just won't come near some people. They do seem to identify people that are uncomfortable around them quickly.

The chickens strategy when they identify these people?

Be as close to then as they can! Constantly be around those people. Daisy, the greatest hen ever, would sometimes even fly up into their lap!

Essentially they torture people who don't like chickens by loving them!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

So, I have a question for those of you who care to answer. Would you still keep chickens if hens didn't lay eggs?
I got asked this by one the chicken keepers here where I live.

If chickens were non-egg laying animals I probably would never have bought any as my reason for getting them was to ensure that the eggs I ate came from "happy" chickens.

I fully intend to keep my girls until they pop their clogs from natural causes whether they are laying or not. So I suppose the answer to your question Shadrach is "no" and "yes".

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I'm a simple person. A lot of the highfalutin' arguments go over my head so for me it boils down to: we know so very little; be kind. Animals are sentient beings. They feel pain & fear & I believe, love. The very least we can do is be kind because we're the ones with the power over their lives.

I agree heartily Ribh. You put things so simply and elegantly.

Have you read "My friend Flika" ? There's a part where the father says that as we have taken away the domestic animal's freedom and ability to look after themselves that we have the obligation to take proper care of them. I can't remember the exact quote, I'm sure it was much more pithy than that, but the sentiment has always stayed in my mind.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Jabberwocky Immortalized

We got a wonderful Christmas present today. My daughter arrived home from Detroit today with a present for us from her future father in law. She gave him a picture of Jabber and he painted him for us. Here is the painting.
View attachment 1985968

So thoughtful. We love it.

Your daughter knows you well

What a great cheeky expression he has on his face

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I do believe we all share a fairly similar opinion on that front here... I will still eat chicken, and eggs, but I at least want to have them all have happy, clean lives, and the absolute least amount of suffering as possible.

Exactly!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Careful Bob... that’s a slippery slope you’re heading down! Possibly due to the chicken poop

You crack me up Kris!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Finally some Colored Eggs!

I got another Christmas present yesterday.

View attachment 1986284

Thank you so much @CrazyChookChookLady ! It was so nice to see you and Rich yesterday. We need to get coffee someday so we can visit longer.

Your wish has finally come true! (From a certain point of view)

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I see the same behavior when strangers enter our backyard. They just won't come near some people. They do seem to identify people that are uncomfortable around them quickly.

The chickens strategy when they identify these people?

Be as close to then as they can! Constantly be around those people. Daisy, the greatest hen ever, would sometimes even fly up into their lap!

Essentially they torture people who don't like chickens by loving them!

They are learning from the cats.....

 

[Kris5902]

I see the same behavior when strangers enter our backyard. They just won't come near some people. They do seem to identify people that are uncomfortable around them quickly.

The chickens strategy when they identify these people?

Be as close to then as they can! Constantly be around those people. Daisy, the greatest hen ever, would sometimes even fly up into their lap!

Essentially they torture people who don't like chickens by loving them!

No wonder I like chickens so much! They are just like cats... feathered cats.


I used to have cats follow me home frequently, and can pet the “unsociable hates all humans” types of cats. I had a kitten launch itself to me from a second story window of a neighboring apartment building when I was about 15. The plaintive mewling led me to knocking on the people’s door. They had locked the new kitten in an upstairs bedroom to keep it safe from their dog while they were at work, but didn’t close the window completely. Kitty escped by jumping out to me. I had similar, but less dramatic, issues with dogs as well. The sheep don’t tend to like me though, unless they are in some medical distress, then they tend to approach me for some reason. It’s sad because the only sheep I then really like are those that end up being culled (B72 and Z40 RIP) or the sickly lambs, that won’t make the breeding cut like Splintz.