Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

When I saw you had posted one I had that great anticipation and wasn't disappointed

Thank you. I appreciate that.

 

[GregnLety]

Back to weedeating then more pics..

 

[notabitail]

"I'm not doing anything wrong. You think I escaped or what?"

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

They have discovered bug central. Please Raven, do not punt one into the creek.

 

[notabitail]

They have discovered bug central. Please Raven, do not punt one into the creek.

You'd better watch her.
Such huge feet!

 

[Fwoof]

A farewell to Eli: The little chicken who lived large

I am mourning the loss of my little Eli. She was only with me for a very short time, but she burrowed deep into my heart with her quirky ways.
She never showed any respect for the forces of gravity, and was always on the move, so I do not wish for her to 'rest in peace', but rather to fly to the limits of the sky.

Eli was all about food
I loved Eli and Eli loved food.
In her first few days with me she demonstrated her willingness to embrace the unconventional in order to achieve her goals: sunflower seeds were her drug of choice and there was nothing she would not do to get her beak on some.
Here she is on her first day with me tunneling under her sister Babs to reach the seeds without getting too close to me.

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Later she would burrow under my thick winter jacket to reach the seeds I kept in an inside pocket.

Let's face it, food was the way to Eli's heart!

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She was bottom of the pecking order but she was so fast and so fearless that she always got the lion share of what was on offer.

Eli was a troublemaker
She was full of mischief. You can see it in her cheeky little face.

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She led expeditions to tunnel under the fencing designed to protect the shrubs (useful fact: 3 chickens can dig up a year old, 3' shrub in under 3 hours).

And of course the first thing she did in any circumstance was go up. Here she is testing out the rafters on her first day post quarantine. Those are human sized doors and the floor is steeply sloped. She is a long way up!

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She led her sister into roosting in the rafters going up to about 11' seemingly without much effort.

Eli was a beauty queen
I have a thing for black chickens. Eli took that to a new level because she was black but with flecks of gold. Sometimes she wore green (to match her green snakeskin boots), and sometimes she wore purple, and many days she wore both. I could look at her for hours.

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Eli went broody
At the end of May she suffered some kind of neurological event - maybe even a fit - and she fell off the roost (fortunately not the rafters). Immediately afterwards she took to her nest box and became full on broody.
Every day I carried her out of her nest and she chowed down on the sunflower seeds in my hand while I took her outside for some personal care time. She flared her tail and hackles at anyone in the vicinity. Who knew such a small chicken could make herself so big? She was magnificent - like an ancient battleship in full sail!

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When her eggs didn't hatch (there weren't any eggs under her) she finally emerged but she had one more thing to do.

Eli was an Aunty
Although her eggs didn't hatch, Eli adopted the five chicks I had brought in while she was broody. They were already a month old when she first encountered them but she immediately responded to their little peeps. And maybe even more amazingly they seemed to accept her as their mother.

They were always together. She called them to her and they came. She showed them the good places to dig. They were always talking to each other so I am sure she imparted lots of chicken secrets to them. I hope so.

Here she is showing Sylvie how the worms gather in that little patch because it is usually damp.

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I know it is fanciful, but in retrospect it is hard not to believe that she knew she was dying and wanted to bring a clutch of babies into the world before she left it.

Eli's last day
Eli's last full day with us was on Sunday June 11, 2023. She sat quietly in a sheltered part of the Chicken Palace. She seemed calm and content. She was alert but napped from time to time.
I sat on a tree stump right near her so she would know I was there but not stress about me reaching for her.
Together we watched the other chickens running around and digging in the shrubs. I got lots of pictures.
Bernie stopped by and I was on high alert. Bernie was never vicious to Eli, but Bernie is a big chicken and Eli was quite small and even a well intentioned nip from Bernie can be painful. But Bernie stopped and groomed Eli's head, cleared some bits of bedding dust off her and then moved on.
Babs came by a couple of times and groomed Eli and preened herself and sat for a while.
Her brood of almost grown 'chicks' came and visited often. They are high energy and I was worried they were disturbing her - but she seemed happy to have them around her.
Here is the last picture I took of Eli - it was taken on Sunday evening just before dark. Her kids are settling in around her a bit puzzled why she is not in her usual spot.

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Also fanciful but I feel very sure that the chickens knew this was Eli's last day and they were coming to say goodbye.

Just at dark I shooed the little ones into the hen house and gently carried Eli in as well.
At 4am Babs triggered the coop cameras by coming down off the roost to visit Eli.
Eli was still alive.
An hour or so later Babs triggered the camera again coming to check on Eli, but Eli was gone.

***
It has been an emotional couple of days for me with feelings of guilt and loss, but also of awe at how these wonderful creatures behaved to her at the end.
Mostly now I am just so happy that Eli got to experience what I am sure she believed was motherhood and I hope she has passed on a lot of wisdom to the next generation.
I feel reasonably confident she didn't teach them to roost in the rafters as they never witnessed that directly, but as I am not fluent in Chicken, who knows what she might have told them!

Farewell Eli. Fly to new heights. Know you were much loved and that we all miss you.

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I'm so sorry for your loss. She has such a beautiful story.
I've been through this several times and I know how hard it is.

RIP Eli. You are much loved.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm so sorry for your loss. She has such a beautiful story.
I've been through this several times and I know how hard it is.

RIP Eli. You are much loved.

Thank you.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Now for some pictures.

 

[bgmathteach]

The Pentagonists put on a growth spurt overnight and the idea that they might outgrow the door to the brooder house and get stuck inside doesn’t seem so far fetched.
It would be Calypso or Tassels first as they are big girls. I must say I may die laughing if that actually happens.
Anyway, I explained to them all that sooner or later they have to leave the cardboard box and they had better check out which roost options they fancy before they get stuck.
So last night, just before bedtime, Sylvie went to investigate the biggest roost to try it on for size. Soon she was joined by Piglet.
I think they liked the look of it. Very promising.

Bernie had views.

Oh, I loved both the videos! But the best part was hearing their constant 'littles' voices the whole time

 

[bgmathteach]

Jeff and I began replacing the walkway on our dock. It was (is) more work than we anticipated especially given that the heat was brutal the past weekend. I truly felt my age though when it came time to replace the planks. The new section looks good and is very sturdy but it wasn't the 2 day job I planned for.View attachment 3541536

Looks great, though. Is it the Trek type boards? Looks like it - those should last the rest f your lifetime - so shouldn't have to do it again. That's a pleasant thought for you And just think of all the extra fishing time you will get in. And all the ribbing Jeff can give you about you getting old.

Now, all you need to do is put a little scratch grain out there next time and you won't have to pay a tax photo, as there will already be a chook or two in it

(What a peaceful looking setting - I would probably only enjoy it in your winter, though. I can't stand the heat!)