Our tall apple banana finally has a bud! You can’t really see it… it’s that slightly fat one in the middle, which should turn reddish-purple.
A banana bud at last
This plant survived a typhoon and some terrible rain and wind. It’s leaning a little, but it kept growing properly, and now there’s a bud. Yay! From here the flowers bloom and then the bananas form, so just a little more waiting. Hey, Hanabi, you’re so tiny! It’s a banana! Can’t wait.
The bananas came to us 11 months ago, when a friend brought two plants. Both were a Brazilian banana variety: one with a thick trunk that stays short and is easy to harvest, and one with a thin trunk that grows tall. I planted the thin, tall one near the front door, and 11 months later we finally have a sign of fruit.
Meet Othello Black
Look how splendid he’s become! I used to say, “How big are you going to get?” and this is the answer. He’s gorgeous; I almost want to enter him in a show. His mother is half wild-type chicken and half fighting-breed, and his father is 100% fighting-breed, so he’s almost entirely fighting chicken.
He was a bit of a rascal for a while, but he’s settled down, so it’s his turn to be introduced. Despite all that fighting blood, he’s kind to the hens and doesn’t fight the other roosters, and because he’s big and strong, he protects everyone. He turned out to be the best. I told him to become a gentleman, and he did!
He came to us as a two- or three-month-old youngster, so he isn’t very attached to people. But fighting breeds go limp when they’re held like this, as if it’s written in their genes, which makes him easy to handle. His head is huge, about the size of my hand. Fighting-breed birds usually have their combs and wattles cut off, which makes their heads look small, but his is really big.
Keep being nice to everyone, okay? If you fight, it’s into a cage for you.
Thanks for watching Chicken Paradise Hawaii! See you next time.