ENTER THE NEW KABIRS

RW Jimmy Gonzales will probably remember the article that was written in year 2003, some two years ago, that has for its title a similar topic on the lion’s pet called “Kabirs”.

Starting with a pair of teenage (well, its equivalent age in the animal kingdom, anyway) that was given by a cousin of the lion tamer, he patiently nurtured the two fowls until maturity whereupon the female chicken that he named “Beatot” laid its own eggs. But hatching these was a dilemma for after twenty one days incubating time, none of the ten eggs managed to hatch. The reason is those that managed to break their shell were pressed by the weight of the mother hen and ultimately died.

The lion, however, was undaunted. If the hen could not hatch its own, then surely, there should be an incubator nearby to do it the artificial way. And he did found one until finally, five newly-hatched kabir chicks survived and ultimately found their way freely roaming in their backyard. These chicks then complemented Mikatot and Beatot, the pair that they originally procured as backyard pets.

Nor that was all; the lion also introduced native chickens called “Bisaya” to make his pets more lively. But unlike his famed Kabirs whose actuations and mannerisms as pets amuse them, the local or “Bisayan” breed did not serve any purpose except as meat on the table when these have grown into full adults. Mikatot, on the other hand, would place himself below the window every morning and crane his neck shouting his “Cock-a-doodle-do”, waking the lion tamer in the process and incites her to indignation. Or Beatot, the female Kabir, would excrete her droppings almost anywhere that easily pricked her hygienic sensibilities because of the mess it usually creates. Nor was the lion spared from its antics. On lazy afternoons when he would tie his hammock tied on the coco9nut tree, there to spend the afternoon napping, the rooster would holler its :cock-a-doodle do unceremoniously waking him up from his stupor..

Until in summer of the year 2004 when the lion tamer and his pet went home to the metropolis for their usual vacation, when on their return they found their pets wiped out by avian flu called “tarurok” in the local dialect leaving only Beatot, the female Kabir, and another Bisayan hen alive. This despite the fact that the lion hired a neighbor to feed and provide the chickens with water meantime they were away.

The resultant epidemic naturally dampened their spirits. Mikatot, the male Kabir, was specially dear to them because of his antics and there was no way he could be replaced. The Bisayan hen was uninspiring and leaves Beatot the only pet worth caring for, and even that wholesome reality no longer seems worth the trouble.

Summer of 2005 came and so the attendant trek to the metropolis. The lion proposed to his tamer to give Beatot to a neighbor so that it may at least be consumed as poultry fearing she might die unattended. But the lion tamer would have none of it. “Die if she must, but not through the knife!”, she said.

Imagine to their surprise when they returned to their den in Guindulman and found the two hens still alive and in fine laid their own eggs. The Bisayan hen hatched three chicks while Beatot also laid its own eggs and with the mating pair being a Bisayan rooster. Which made the lion wonder: “Can she hatch her own eggs which by that time has already grown to eight, of her own free will and accord?” This, the lion would want to see.

And after twenty one days, he was surprised to hear a chirping sound at the coop and saw one chick robustly alive. He then inspected the eggs under the body of the hen and of the remaining seven, six other eggs showing signs of breaking while the last was as solid as it was before. Consequently, he aided in breaking the eggs but only two managed to survive, the five others were apparently suffocated before by the weight of the mother hen and did not survive.

To insure that the two other newly-born chicks stay alive was not an easy process. The lion had to expose the two chicks to the heat of the sun almost the whole afternoon so that before dusk, one has gained its strength while the barely showed signs of being alive. Dusk having set in, the lion reckoned the warmth of the mother hen can provide the the natural gift of life to the third chick which the lion endearingly called: “Jonellete” a name he coined from the crippled patient that the lion and his tamer took with them to Cebu some three weeks ago. The other chick was named “Manolette” while the robust chick that first saw light was named Jackie Chan. Fine!, the lion mused, but what would their names be if their sexes were in the masculine gender?

On the second day, the three were already freely running the backyard until the lion noticed that the chick called Manollete was in the canal chirping wildly. The lion hastily rescued the chick from the water and after a painstaking effort, again exposed him to the noonday sun thus drying him up and restoring his strength. Whew!, the lion thought, what a sad prospect it could have been had the poor and helpless chick died.

It is now the third day that Beatot and her three chicks freely roam our backyard. Admittedly, there is still a long way to go before it can be said that they can survive. And in an allegorical manner, it’s much like nurturing three newly-raised masons to the fold.

But who can tell! It’s more like a “live and let live effort.” The days these cute little fowls earn will mean an equal number of days that the aging lion will spend to compensate their number of days stay on earth!

Right, RW Jimmy?!