OF KABIRS, SASSO, ETC.

OF KABIRS, SASSO, ETC.
By: Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.
Dagohoy Lodge No 84
(HM- LL 185, JS 169 and RP 147)


Sometime after we returned to our den in Gundulman last June, the lion received and email from RW Jimmy Gonzales asking how our kabirs are doing, and for those not in the know, the term kabir is that breed of chicken that apparently came from the Middle East, and like the Sassos, are quite popular locally for their extra-large size and their easy adaptability to local weather.

The lion recalled that his reply to RW Jimmy was that save for his favorite kabir named Beatot and an unnamed Visayan pullet, his chicken coop which consisted of five Kabirs and 3 Visayan pullets were wiped out by a chicken epidemic called “taruro,” which also annihilated almost all the chickens in the neighborhood. And since the lion and his tamer already considered these chickens part of their extended family, he added that he would soon endeavor to buy some chicks at Tagbilaran to replace those that were lost through pestilence. During their sojourn to the metropolis, these two female chickens were joined by a young Sasso rooster of a neighbor who probably thought the abundant food inside would compensate for being confined at the backyard in lieu of freely roaming outside foraging for food!

Our plan soon turned to reality when after the last rites that was conducted to WB Felix Lao last June 20 at “Tagbi” (that’s how the city is called by Guindulmanons) he bought ten kabir chicks and proceeded to raise these the way he had done so in the past. The lion earlier wanted to mix these Kabirs with a few Sasso chicks; unfortunately, none was on sale at that time in the agricultural stores that peddle these cute little feathered friends.

By the last week of June, the Visayan pullet started laying eggs, and by the first week of the subsequent month, was noticed it has started incubating its eggs which already has grown to seven. To the lion’s surprise, another egg was added and only then did he realize that Beatot, the kabir, also started laying eggs. Realizing the confusion that would soon ensue, he placed an empty carton box beside its coop so that the said kabir could also lay her own eggs in peace.

Beatot, yeah, that’s the name we gave our Kabir chicken, managed to incubate only four of its eggs as the others (about six in all) were waylaid by the lion to the prying pan and ultimately to the table for his morning meal. Thus, the suspense of seeing two would be “mother hens” sitting on their eggs morning, noon and evening waiting for the chicks finally to chirp became a daily fare.

By July 27 five small chicks started chirping leaving two small-sized eggs and another which Beatot laid, still unbroken. By the next day, the lion tamer took the three un-hatched eggs to a neighbor at our backyard with the intent of giving these so that these can be cooked like “balut”, but imagine to her surprise when one of the eggs started to have a hole in it and a small beak protruding. It turned out one of the eggs was being hatched a full day late than the others.

The lion took over and helped the small chick break its shell and lo! a cute white Sasso, with its neck without feathers chirping. It was a beautiful sight to see; much like the ugly duckling of the nursery rhymes, the Sasso chick looked so different from the rest. To insure that it survives, he separated it from the others and placed it below the glare of a fifty-watt electric bulb for a good two days.

By August 12, when the chicks of the Visayan hen were already about ten days old, the kabir showed signs of agitation and at the same time was periodically looking at the eggs so the lion checked what the heck was ever the matter. There he noticed that one egg was hatched but with the feathered chick already dead. This would be followed by the hatching of the three other eggs, which, in like manner were also pressed by the body of the mother thus killing them. How stupid of the lion, he mused, he should have taken over when he noticed that the eggs were already about to be hatched by taking the eggs out of the care of the hen and putting them into the glare of the electric bulb so that these may be hatched the artificial way. How stupid indeed!!

But that was not the end of the story. Beatot, probably grieving at the loss of her own dead chicks, would not be undaunted, she is now also escorting the other chicks find their own food in the company of the Visayan mother hen.

Which makes the lion chuckle(wrong word, it should be growl.). King Solomon may have enjoyed solving that puzzle on who was the real mother of the child he ordered cut in two, but seeing the Kabir hen also treating the chicks of the Visayan hen as if it were her own was a beauty of animal instinct to behold.


And why did the lion wrote this article? Well, because he found out that incubating its eggs by a Kabir (and for that matter, a Sasso hen) the natural way is not possible because the chicks that will be hatched will simply be crushed to death because of the weight of the incubating mother!! But the beauty of it all is that the lion now has two adult hens about to lay again their eggs, ten eight weeks old Kabirs that in two more weeks time will be eligible for roasting at the kitchen, five native chicks that now fly their wings aimlessly inside our yard, and a Sasso chick that sports its featherless neck looking like Jubela on his way to the guillotine!