How Chickens Do Halloween

The other day the kid and I went out and wormed the chickens...a good time had by all, as always. In two weeks we get to do it again, as you must to catch any hatching worm eggs and break the cycle. Some of the implements of chickeny terror:

Broad-spectrum paste wormer, which kills everything, both mixed with water to be given orally and applied straight to that little bare spot in each wing pit and masssaged in, so:

 Chickens do not appreciate a wing pit massage and resist this procedure. Especially proud pretty bois like Milton, here.

Dog toenail cutter to trim any claws/spurs that need it and Adams Flea and Tick mist, sprayed liberally deep into the No Man's Land of chicken butts (where angels fear to tread, sister) and fluffy thighs and feet to take care of any mites. Since the kid holds the bird while I do all these things to the chickens, I am also free of worms and/or mites since I never fail to get that stuff on me. Not pictured: the goodie dish holding bits of diced ham, a few pieces given to each bird at the completion of worming along with a sincere apology...and boy, you'd better make it sound good, they can tell the difference.

But what the hey, it was also a good time to get a few pictures of pissy chickens!

Because most of the time when you try to photograph chickens while doing the semi-annual worming, they know what's coming and get all snotty and squirmy, so you wind up with pics of thrashing poultry like this one of Tater Tot:

It was also a good time to update on Blossom, my half-Silkie who this year decided to start shedding toes like a maple tree in Fall. We figured it was frostbite from last winter and her toes waited until months later to actually fall off.
Blossom *had* ten toes--Silkies have 5 toes on each foot instead of 4 like normal chickens. Blossom being a little weirdo from the get-go, she had two of her toes fused together at hatch, the two rear-facing toes of her left foot. I expected for her to have problems with *those* toes, if she ever did have foot troubles...

Nope. Weirdo mutant fused toes are just fine, as is ONE other toe. Blossom has shed all of the rest of her toe tips, though.
Even worst, she did this while staying in the house recovering from another injury...all of a sudden I started finding the ends of her toes, claw and all, lying in the middle of the living room.
FREAKY.
To make things even MORE gruesome, I never found two of her toes. Either the dog ate them or they are lying in wait somewhere in my house for me to have forgotten all about it and then pop up someday.
ICK. Zombie Chicken.

Speaking of zombies...
Happily, some of the other chickens posed nicely for head shots. Although I didn't realize until later that my daughter's zombie bunny Tshirt had lined up perfectly...

 Cam, my big Americaunas/Giant Cochin mix Head Rooster doin' the zombie bunny thing...

Several others got in on it.

 Pie, an Americaunas/Buff Brahma mix hen

 Tater Tot again, (once she calmed down) a bantam Cochin/MilleFleur Belgian d'Uccle mix hen

...and Rambo, the Head Hen, a 7 year old buff Brahma hen who is WAY too dignified to wear zombie bunny ears and is NOT amused by all this tomfoolery.

Zombie Chicken!

The kid just came up to me showing me Blossom's right foot (the uninjured one) and said, "She's missing the end of THIS toe, now!"
I look. "Haha, she couldn't have hurt herself in the house. Naw, her *toe* is there, she's just snapped off a claw." There is a tiny drop of dried blood, but Blossom is fine.
Kid INSISTS part of her toe is gone. I give it a closer look, comparison to purple bandaged toe on other foot is made.
Blossom is missing the end of her fucking toe and claw.

Terrific, now we have to search my house for a chicken toe.
Step one: Look for blood in area chicken hangs out.
Success, we find a couple of *tiny* blood spots (on the carpet I just cleaned, BTW)

ToeHunt 2018 begins.
My husband finally finds it, next to the couch.

Yup.

This is about a 10 on my Weird-Shit-O-Meter.
Apparently she'd injured *both* toes originally, this one had stayed in place and today the broken off part finally fell off. Creepy thing is, I had thoroughly inspected her feet with my hands to check for other injuries and never saw this. Kinda glad because if her toe had suddenly come off in my hands while the kid was holding her it would have traumatized that poor girl.

...Or we have a Zombie Chicken. I'm personally going the Zombie Chicken route.

And yes, that IS a previously broken outer toe on the foot with the claw flipped upwards. Chickens LOVE to do this, it's a very common injury.

For crying out LOUD...my life is just one dumb, weird thing after another, I swear.


EDIT:  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

That settles it, Blossom is a goddamned ZOMBIE.

Hours later, I was just putting my shoes on and found this NEW tidbit sitting *right* where my husband found the first one. 'Oh HAHA,' I thought, 'husband dug the toe out of the trash and put it there to mess with me.' Then I realize that IT'S NOT THE SAME TOE.

Inspect chicken. Yup, she's shed another toe!

At this point I'm off to the Intenet to see what new weird chicken disease that causes the damned birds to shed body parts is going around. Happily, no chicken leprosy...nearest we can figure is that it was caused likely by frostbite months ago and the toe bits are just now falling off. Chicken people experiencing the same thing are saying Silkies and Cochins are prone to it.

But, I mean, LOOK at the first pictures I posted--that damned toe is ON there, right?! And it looks FINE.
It's freakish.

Stupid bird has 3 toe tips/claws left. And yes, I pulled on them all to make sure no more were about to fall off like damned autumn leaves.

 Who knew that the zombie apocalypse would start with a chicken?

REDRUN!

So we're off to Virginia City again, this time to attend their annual Redrun!  This is the fourth year they've done a zombie run, and this year they had two courses:  a 3.33 mile and a 6.66 mile run.  A portion of the proceeds went to The Comstock Cemetery Foundation which works to preserve and maintain the collection of cemeteries in the area.

They really worked on the backstory this year.  Every runner starts out with two red flags (just like flag football), and the goal is to make it to the end of the course with two flags in order to collect 'vaccine' and save humanity.  Runners can share flags in order for the group to collect as much vaccine as possible.  Along the course there are not only obstacles and a grinding run through the hills of the area (at 6000+ feet in altitude!), but you have to dodge zombies (some staggering, others quick) AND a group called 'The Living Insane'.  Revival stations along the way (where you could stay as long as you liked) served either water or beer, just to keep things, ahh...interesting (can you say Drunk Zombie Run?).  In addition to the run there was a pre-run zombie parade and a BIG party afterwards.

While we didn't officially sign up, we still wanted to go as spectators.  DEAD ONES.  We never like to miss an opportunity to zombie up and have fun, so out came the makeup & props.

By the end of the day my husband's bloody makeup had run to such an extent that he was earning shocked, guarded second looks from people.  The kid took along her fake arm as a zombie snack.

Since the course ran the entire town and the outlying hills, the entire town was a parking lot.  We eventually found a spot.

We did feel bad for this guy, who obviously hadn't remembered that wild horses had the run of the town.  I'm willing to bet he suddenly realized it when he stepped out.

The houses in VC are mostly quirky.

And the sidewalks stay in character.

They had really neat posters showing various stops/landmarks that were along the course.  Of course, Virginia City fairly drips with history anyway, but today they emphathized the spookier aspects.

The starting point of the run was in the center of town next to The Bucket of Blood Saloon.  Runners had a launch time for their run printed on their number bib, they launched fresh batches of runners every 10 minutes.

Also, I just liked the way her mask rode on her chin. :)

People had fun team names & outfits.  I got the feeling that some of them traveled around the country and did this kind of thing for a living.

'No Really...I'm Fine'

This trio of Living Insane girls was amazing.

And let's just say right now that this little girl WON the day.  She was a total hit with everyone, her doll was the clincher.

The loading area...

They'd enter here...

And each batch would be loaded into a cargo container.  Locals who every day dress in 1800's character worked the event.  The guns are real, loaded with blanks, and LOUD.  As the runners were loaded into the container, they'd yell things like "Get your ass IN there!" and sternly shout at them that if they wanted to survive, they'd better pay attention.  To add to the nervousness and apprehension of the runners, the people outside would shout, scream and bang on the container.  The participants got the whole treatment!

A countdown buzzer would sound.  The costumed westerners were taking aim at the waiting pack of zombies and would fire on them as sirens wailed, the doors opened and the runners emerged.  The two girls in red were throwing handfuls of red dust on the runners as well.

This is what awaited the runners.  A quarter mile of zombies and Living Insane at the start, then a left turn out of town and into the hills.  The spectators were cool and lined the streets and stayed out of the way, no barricades required.

Time to start running for your life...
GO!

 Lots of people in silly costumes.  But a lot of people came to run from zombies, dammit, and were totally serious and into the experience. The westerners would take, long, slow, careful aim at the zombies before firing and really played their parts well.

The Deadpool team was hilarious.  They'd run flailing their arms.

The Living Insane girl in the black dress & mask simply stood in the middle and stared at the guys with the guns, like a promise for later.

She was unsettling.

The westerners stayed marvelously in character the entire time and had their heroic posing down pat.

OK...you know how in horror movies there is always that *one person* who you know is a Star Trek Red Shirt?  They are zombie fodder in a huge way, and if you have the misfortune to be trapped by them, your ass is as good as dead, too.

I'm looking you, person in the orange shirt/white hat cringing and plugging your ears on the right, there.  The Zombie Apocalypse is NOT the time to wimp out over guns roaring in your ears, get your priorities straight and RUN, DUMMY!

But noooo, instead block the door and keep everyone behind you from surviving, forcing them to run around you.

Finally running, ears still covered though.  Oh well, you know what they say:  You don't have to be fast, just faster than the other guy.

The shooters do their job and a few zombies are felled...

 
...making it possible for most of the pack to escape.

As they get away, the zombies & Living Insane regroup for the next batch.

At this point we decided to relocate up the street a bit.  We stood behind a barricade where the course took a sharp left, so I could safely take pictures and we wouldn't get trampled.

Looking back down the street, the runners will emerge from the right at the far end.  The zombie gauntlet awaits as the siren sounds and shots are fired.

Here they come!

Checking to make sure he still has his flags...

Suddenly, a volunteer zombie lurches out of the crowd!

...and meekly lurches back again.

People laughed and ran around him.

We left the main street and drove around a bit to explore the course.  Red arrows marked the way for the runners.  Zombies & Living Insane spotted the course here and there, cheerfully waving to us.

As the course ran out into the hills, the rest stations popped up.  Free water/beer!

As the runners left this station, they had to run up the dirt roads into the hills, where we could not follow in the car.

Refreshments sounded good to us, so we stopped for burgers & root beer floats.  After that, it was time for us to leave Virginia City for the day.

But the kid has already decided that she wants to go next year and run with a group of friends!