Hello from Chicken Paradise — it’s me and Pen-chan, and blue skies again.
Meet Sumi
Sumi is a Silkie rooster. I happened to find him abandoned in front of a laundromat. Nobody nearby knew whose he was, so I took him home and searched for his owner for months, with no luck. I’d heard Silkie roosters are often abandoned. Several years later, he’s part of our family.
Nail trim and foot spa
Sumi’s nails had grown long, so it was time for a trim. His feet were unbelievably dirty, so first I washed them. Silkies have feathers on their feet, and if you count the toes underneath: one, two, three, four, five! Ordinary chickens have only four. Roosters also have spurs, sharp fighting claws used to beat up rivals. People who keep Silkies for shows leave the foot feathers, but we don’t show ours, so to help prevent illness I trimmed them.
I use clippers made for rabbits and guinea pigs; there aren’t any for chickens yet. Someone holds the bird while I cut. Foot feathers are thicker than other feathers, so clippers can work better than scissors. I also took the spurs down a little: spurs that grow too long can do fatal damage in a fight, or hurt a hen’s back when the rooster mounts her to mate. Sumi struggles at random moments, so it doesn’t seem to hurt.
The result: trimmed foot feathers, spurs even and rounded, nails neat. How was it, Sumi? “I didn’t like it,” apparently. Same as ever.
Dolly’s secret trails
This whole area is surrounded by tall grass, and Dolly has made her own trails through it. She pops out from nowhere and surprises people. I’ve been in there — it’s a maze, and you get lost fast unless you know the way. Dolly is actually clever.
Sango’s rehab day
This is Sango, a hen. When she was very small she injured her spinal cord in an accident. Her nerves don’t work properly, so her legs don’t move and her body is a little bent. But as you can see, she’s very feisty, and she calls out a lot.
She usually gets around in a wheelchair, but today she moved from our house to the new farm, so she’s doing some rehab in the sun. At first both legs were crumpled, but last month, almost miraculously, one leg opened up and its joint bends the right way again. That gives us hope she might stand someday. She can’t scratch her own head or groom properly, so I scratch it for her; she gets dirty more easily than other chickens.
Thank you for watching Chicken Paradise. See you in the next video!