Winter fluff
The nights have been getting cold lately, and it’s as if everyone switched on some mysterious setting to grow extra-fluffy feathers in their molt. Cho’s bottom: fluffy. Luna’s bottom: fluffy too. And Poppy 2, I’ve never seen you this beautiful!
And Yukinko, who had fluid built up in her belly (ascites), is on the road to recovery. Her feathers are growing back, too. I’d been worrying over this for about two years — so why the sudden turnaround?
Meet Seven
This is our newest pigeon — not so new anymore, but the latest: Seven. Seven was found in a busy part of town with heavy traffic, where someone noticed something seemed wrong. The finder discovered a big wound on its back, and Seven ended up with us. We picked Seven up at a convenience store, and the name came from that store.
The wound has healed and the feathers are growing back, so today I’m trying Seven in the pigeon loft. Happy went right over to see what was going on. Oh — chased! Seven can’t fly yet. If Seven gets bullied, we’ll separate them again. Grown-up pigeons are scary!
Happy’s big news
Big announcement: Happy, who makes courtship calls all the time, turned out to be a female, not a male! A few days ago I wondered why she was sitting on the floor — and there they were. I hadn’t built a nest box, so she laid her eggs on the floor. It seems she even has a husband: the gray one with the very glossy neck. Happy, why didn’t you tell me first?
A rooster left tied in the sun
This wild rooster was tied up alive by the feet and left in the blazing sun. An acquaintance out for a walk found him hanging upside down from a utility pole, his eyes swollen from illness and his legs bound with rope — clearly abused. Shaken, she took him home and began treating him, and slowly he recovered.
He is very gentle and, though a rooster, doesn’t fight; he may carry trauma from the abuse. After three weeks at Chicken Paradise and a quarantine period, I let him out on the playground for the first time. The ducks are very curious about the newcomer; the roosters ignore him. He’s become so friendly you’d never guess he was wild. His body is healthy, so once he settles down emotionally, I think he’ll be stable.
Hawaii’s chicken problem might improve if more people understood it, so we’ll keep sharing stories like his. I’m so glad he’s feeling better.
Thank you for watching Chicken Paradise! See you in the next episode.