Piper the Chunky Chicken

Hi! I'm Piper the Chunky Chicken. Well, I'm not really called Piper the Chunky Chicken, but my owner, Ellie, calls me that. She has nicknames for all of us chickens. Cottontail is the "Scaredy-cat." Bobey is the "Noise-maker." Nestle is the "Mysterious one." and Buttermilk is just the "Depressed." Literally.

Anyway, Ellie let us out and fed us some rice. I had gobbled down almost half of it because I love rice. I can't help it. I'm a Brahma. Anyway, I had a grand time when Fattail hopped into the scene.

Fattail is a squirrel, and we all hate him. So then, as if we were all tied together, I'm pulled toward Fattail, and Cottontail follows with Buttermilk hot on her heels claws.

Bobey and Nestle follow the pair, and we all chase after Fattail. Fattail runs for the garden, looping around big flower pots full of Ellie's succulents. Unfortunately, we all trampled a couple of them. Ellie's going to be mad.

Anyway, I almost got Fattail when he hopped back on the fence. "Ha! Take that!" I cluck. Then he jumps back down, chittering with a whole group of his squirrel friends. So we all chase one, and it lasts thirty minutes until Ellie comes outside to shoo the squirrels away. Whew!

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The rest of the day is pretty normal, a couple chasings of Fattail and his thugs, some rice, worms, rice, rice, and rice! Yum. Anyway, I looked up at the sky and noticed how dark it was. Suddenly, the sprinklers turn on.

Ugh, I completely forgot about that. We didn't mind getting wet, but it was chilly, and we didn't want to get too cold. Water blinded my eyes, and I scrambled to find a dirt spot. I crashed into the bushes, which was a mistake because my crashing unearthed all the drops of water on the leaves, raining down on me.

I yell loudly and turn the other way, crashing into Cottontail. Then I hear it. "POSSUM!" shrieks Bobey. I can see it too. A white and brown lump appears, waiting for the sprinklers to stop.

The water starts slowing, and I can see the coop. Making a mad dash for it, I almost get there in time when the possum leaps in front of me and snarls. "Well, you're a fat one. You must be very yummy." I cluck loudly and get ready to attack. The possum lunges for my wing, scratching at it. It does nothing more than rip off a few of my feathers because I had flown over his head and pecked his body hard.

Nestle comes charging in, "Buttermilk!" Nestle yells as she claws at the possum. Buttermilk comes flying down from the top of the coop, but the possum sees her. "Oh well, she's not as fat as you, but she'll do." says the possum, looking at me. The possum then opens her mouth for Buttermilk to fall in. But Buttermilk is an impeccable flier, and she swoops to the right and flaps her wings, confusing the possum.

I come charging at the possum, but its big tail rises and smacks me. I peck it hard. Bobey starts flapping her wings and scratching the possum, but the possum opens its mouth and bites down, narrowly missing her wing. Then, the possum spins and grabs Buttermilk's tail, dragging her ever closer and closer. Cottontail crows loudly, and then she kicks the possum in the teeth.

The possum does not let go, and I screech, "The eye! Go for the eye!" The possum hears me and tries to block his eye, but Cottontail is already pecking it.

Buttermilk is twisting and writhing, and she finally wrenches herself out of the possum's teeth, losing a lot of feathers. After that, Nestle goes into the fight and clucks when the possum scratches her waddle. Then he turns around and goes for me.

I get a scratch on my wing as I turn and fly toward his face, scratching and kicking. The possum clawed at me, and I clawed back. The possum was wearing me out, and I couldn't go on much longer.

"BA-GAWK!" screams Bobey. "What are you doing!" asks Nestle. Then she catches on and starts making noise too. Cottontail and Buttermilk help me with the possum. Cottontail has a bleeding spot on her beak, and Buttermilk's white feathers are stained with dirt.

Then the possum lunges for me, and I don't dodge quickly enough. Buttermilk tries to get his eye, but the possum bats her away. The possum is opening its mouth, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Then a bright flash of light appears, and the possum backs away.

"Hey!" I hear Ellie's voice say. "You possum! Go away!" After a quick examination, Ellie quickly rounds us up and puts us back in the coop. "Aw, it's okay. I won't let that possum hurt you." she cooed, stroking us. We finally relax in bed, thinking about the terrifying day that just happened.

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Ellie doesn't let us out the next day, and we are glad she didn't. I had finally understood why Bobey and Nestle were screeching. They were calling for Ellie since Bobey is the "Noise-maker." Ellie heard them and came for us.

Our coop has a back runway with patches of sunlight we like to dustbathe in. So I took an incredibly long dust bath, and we all huddled together, chattering about what happened last night. As you know, we talk a lot.

"And the possum was so close to eating me!" said Buttermilk. "I know, and if I hadn't pecked him in the eye, you'd be dead by now!" replies Cottontail. "Hey!" I say. "If I hadn't told you to go for the eye, Buttermilk would be dead by now!" "Let's just be thankful that we are all alive," said Nestle. "Oh, yeah, and Bobey, thanks for calling for Ellie; you saved our lives."

And then a massive argument about who saved who arose, and it was pretty tiring to see Cottontail and Bobey fight about who saved more or less. (Bobey argued she had saved all of us, but Cottontail said that we would have all started screaming, and Bobey just had a louder voice)

Eventually, we stopped bickering and started eating, for Ellie had just refilled our food. The following day, we got another surprise. Snow!

Some of it piled in little heaps in our cage, and we all marveled at how shiny, soft, and cold it was. Then, when I tried to eat it (I thought it was rice), it was freezing. We were shivering, so we spent most of the time huddled together, but the snow started to pile on us, and soon, we were all frozen!

"I-it's c-c-cold," I said. "I'm n-not s-sure we can s-stay out here l-longer," said Buttermilk, the skinniest of us all and, therefore, the coldest.

We all shifted closer to each other, trying to generate more body heat. But whoever was put on outside the circle of warmth was freezing, and we kept fighting about who could get the middle spot.

Just like with the possum yesterday, Ellie came to the rescue. We were still young and small, and Ellie put us in a crate in her garage. It was a flimsy cardboard box, and we could quickly jump out of it, but we decided not to. So instead, we all huddled, and it was much warmer.

Finally, we could relax.