Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Been a day of highs and lows.

Around 1 AM we lost Big Boy.

Noon we made an appointment for a rescue puppy that we found out has parvo.

Sunset we put out Goldie and she revived my spirit after having to bury a favorite rooster and doing a deep clean of everywhere the sick puppy has been.

Oh no that’s dreadful! Is it that white puppy? Parvovirus is so easily prevented too bad it wasn’t vaccinated for parvo so much work disinfecting everything. I hope your other dogs are ok.

Really too bad about the Roo, but you know chickens, they don’t show illness until too late. Which ends in our heartache most times
So glad you have his son.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Finally caught up again. Lol.

About the same. Swollen, but not badly, and not as black and blue as I was expecting. I slept with it raised on two pillows....My ankle bone should be all angled and protruding but it looks vaguely like the smooth cap of a mountain top.

Having broken and sprained both ankles several times you have my sympathy. Please do not rush your recovery like I did. Sounds like you are doing the right things and kudos to your hubby for taking care of you. Best wishes for a complete recovery

Hope it heals quickly for you. I can definitely relate, and agree with making sure you take the time to recover properly.

Ask Aurora
Today's Ask Aurora comes from @featherhead007 hen Coco.

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And she writes.....

“Dear Aurora, how do I get a job at Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room?”
Signed Coco


Dear Coco,

Before we get to specific strategies designed to get you a job in the Tiki Room, I think an exploration of what happens to chickens in show business might be of some value to you.

Perhaps the most famous Chicken to make it big in show business is none other than Foghorn Leghorn. Being a leghorn, he had the smarts and looks to get to the top and stay there. No one was as witty as Foghorn. For a long time, he stood at the top of the world.

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But then the jealousy started and whispers were soon passing around Hollywood that he was a closet racist. Rumors abounded that he treated “non-white” chickens on his staff as if they were not even chickens. Even though the rumors were patently false (his staff fiercely defended him and he donated huge sums of money to charities to help fight for the end to caged hens and pastures for all chickens), the roles dried up.

Once the roles dried up Foghorn had to resort to a new career and it had to be away from the spotlight. So obviously, he chose accounting. Now the only joy he has in life comes from his nightly visits to his local watering hole, Bakawks!, where night after night he occupies the same barstool. He is there so often and is still so kind to others that every time he enters the bar everyone yells out “Fog”!

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Then there is Ginger from the hit movie Chicken Run. Never has a star shown so brightly and burned out so quickly. Ginger was the “It” girl after her success in Chicken Run. Everyone wanted her to lead their next project.

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But success went to her head and she thought she was invincible. She started partying day and night. Naturally drugs and alcohol accompanied the partying. Soon she was showing up to the set strung out and hung over. She became more and more difficult to work with and soon the roles were drying up.

Things got so bad that she even resorted to endorsing chicken pot pies.

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In an ironic twist she met her fate in a factory accident. Strung out from partying hard for the week prior, Ginger showed up to do a photoshoot at the pie factory. While having her photo taken Ginger tripped and fell into the machinery meeting her untimely end. Before they could stop the machinery Ginger wound up as part of a few dozen pot pies. All of them WITH GRAVY!


As a final example, how about the cautionary tale of Heihei, also known as “the chicken from Moana”. You may not know this but Heihei and I were friends. Here is a photo of the two of us on set together.

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I am going to share some inside information with you. When Heihei first took the role in Moana, the rooster was written as a brave sidekick much on the order of Lumiere or Mushu. However, once he signed the contract the rewrites began with the end result being the embarrassment to chickens everywhere that the character became. It is a tribute to Heihei that he was a rooster of integrity and refused to back out of his contract no matter how much I begged him to do so. He had given his commitment and he was a rooster of his word.

Well, we all know what happened then. He played the role magnificently. Gave it his all. Because of that he became reviled in the chicken community. He could go nowhere without crowds of chickens verbally abusing him. It has been said that his portrayal set back human’s appreciation of chickens thousands of years.

No longer welcome anywhere in the world where chickens reside, he boarded his boat alone and sailed off. No one, not even I, has heard from him since he departed. I am able through Phyllis’s wizardry with the computer, to track his satellite phone occasionally. I suppose he turns it on to fight with Disney over his shares of the residuals from the film. Here is what Phyllis and I have found.

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As you can see, show business has been a mixed bag at best for chickens. In the 1940s many chickens were part of acts roaming the country where they beat humans at tick-tack-toe or danced on command. I know of one chicken who made it big in New York City. He worked at the Mott Street arcade and was so beloved that when he passed away in 1993 the New York Times ran an obituary for him. His name was Willy and here is a link to his obituary.

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/14/...oss-out-a-landmark-on-the-chinatown-tour.html

If I cannot dissuade you from pursuing a career in show business, I hope I have at least given you an idea of the potential pitfalls and what to avoid. Assuming you still wish to try your hand at show business, let’s discuss the Tiki Hut show in particular.

While I am certain that you possess the ability to tell a cheesy joke (much like your human servant) and this is generally a good skill to have if you wish to participate in a Disney show. Unfortunately, I think you are lacking some of the characteristics for which they will be looking.

While we all may be descended from jungle fowl, we are far removed from them. We are no longer the slim leggy birds that our ancestors were. I believe that there is a leghorn which resides with you. Alas, while she is much closer to the jungle fowl than you or I are, even she is not tropical enough to qualify for their show.

For others who have not seen the Tiki room show at Disney, here is a clip. As you will see, Coco is not really what they need in a performer.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/attractions/magic-kingdom/enchanted-tiki-room/

However, I do have some good news for you. There is another show at Disney for which you would be a perfect match. That is the Feathered Friends in Flight! show. My human servant returned from Disney not so long ago talking about the chickens in the show. He even shared this picture with us. Apparently, all you must do is run across the stage, jump up on a log, eat some treats and run off. Later, you even get to steal some food and run in and out of a window. I bet you would be great at these tasks. There would be lots of applause and you would be showing thousands of people how smart and clever we chickens really are.

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The Way of the Chicken is to support our more adventuresome members as they blaze their path. Should you choose to walk the dangerous path to show business, I am certain you can count on the support of your tribe. I do know that whatever you do your human servant will love and support you as his reputation is sterling and he is beloved in the chicken community.

As to how you get started, I think you need to get your human servant to create a video showing how clever you are and send it to Disney or to a chicken agent. Once you sign with a chicken agent you can rely on them to get you work. Know that the pathway will likely be hard. You may even need to play Tick-Tack-Toe with some humans before you get your big break and are picked up by Disney.

Here is one quick lesson. Heihei taught me this. In show business they do not say “Good Luck” they say, “Break a Leg”. They do not literally mean to go break your leg. That would be tragic. Yes, it is weird but show business chickens are different. Let me be the first to wish you good fortune by saying, “Break a Leg”.

Aurora
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But now, I am finding it harder to tell the two chipmunk ones apart

The really small wire ties (about 4-5”
long and 1/8” wide) make it so much easier to tell them apart. You can frequently find colored assortment packs in the electrical department. When they are small be sure to leave them a little loose (but tight enough they can’t pull them off). You will have to replace them every now and then as they grow.

So just dab at it with a warm wet rag? I don’t think I would dare actually dunk her in water!

Coconut Oil also works well to help soften it so you can get it off, just massage it in a little at a time.

They do. Rosie named them all but 1. I named one Peeps. Now, if you were to ask me what names she gave them, well, I've called them all Peeps and Marshmallow's so long I do not remember. 1 was Flower I do know that. They all look identical though, so they are simply Peep 1, 2,3,4, and Peep 5.

See above comment about using colored wire ties to tell them apart.

Been a day of highs and lows.

Around 1 AM we lost Big Boy.

Noon we made an appointment for a rescue puppy that we found out has parvo.

Sunset we put out Goldie and she revived my spirit after having to bury a favorite rooster and doing a deep clean of everywhere the sick puppy has been.

So sorry about Big Boy. And I know what a pain it can be to clean up everything after finding out a puppy has parvovirus. I lost one to that many years ago, right before he was old enough to vaccinate for it. Spent days disinfecting things, including the bedroom carpet and the front seat of the truck. Will you have to wait a certain amount of time before bringing in any new dogs? We were told to wait at least six months, and make sure our next one had gotten vaccinated before bringing it home.

 

[notabitail]

Dominica is either laying an egg or has gone broody. At midnight.

 

[featherhead007]

I truly wish one of your ladies would go broody and raise you some chicks from him. Maybe get a little Roo so he can train him up.

There lies the sad reality, that a dream is a whisper, with very little substance!

 

[ValarieF]

I have some video's of the momma's and babies to upload in a bit. First I want to talk about the Marshmallows. We still have the relationship where I am not allowed to touch them or even reach out to pet them. They cannot stand it though if I am ignoring them. If I am out, and focused on something or someone else, it is not long until at least one of the finds me. Trying to get my Thirsty Thursday photo focused on Squirrel I get the feeling there was someone behind me.
There was. I did not even turn around, just turned the camera around.
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Spending time in the coop with the momma's and chicks. In under 5 minutes they found me.
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If I am outside, I am to never be alone, ever. At least I have cute stalkers.

Them leghorns got big and are so pretty. I just love chickies.

 

[ValarieF]

's he a BPR or BR? He looks barred.

Hades Is a cuckoo marans

 

[ValarieF]

I dont know if Hades wants to attack me or what. everytime I go out there he gets closer and closer to me I can almost touch him or pick him up. Zeus sat next to me the other day. I dont trust him lol he likes to attack me.

 

[featherhead007]

I dont know if Hades wants to attack me or what. everytime I go out there he gets closer and closer to me I can almost touch him or pick him up. Zeus sat next to me the other day. I dont trust him lol he likes to attack me.

Just talk to him, tell him your concerns. Zeus will understand!

 

[ValarieF]

Zeus moved

 

[RoyalChick]

I have a sad situation with Eli.
She lost her balance and fell off the roost in the night. This morning she is clearly having trouble walking.
I don't think she is egg bound this time.
As you can imagine I am devastated. I will swab for Marek's, it has to be considered a possibility.