Good morning from Chicken Paradise Hawaii! The bananas are growing little by little, and today the weather is lovely.
Sunshine after the storm
For the past few days it’s been stormy, with very heavy rain, so the little tortoises, who usually live in the garden, were moved into plastic cases for safety. Today is warm, so they’re out sunbathing. Ao, our farm cat, comes right up to the camera. He catches rats at night, so in the daytime he relaxes here. The lemon balm and Italian parsley are growing nicely.
The big tortoise’s owner still hasn’t been found, and he’s become a real resident. He’s in a sturdy mesh cage but climbs it surprisingly well. At first he’d pull his head in when we came near; now he comes right out.
Breakfast and a few hens
The one good thing about all the rain is that the grass grows, so we can share it with the chickens. Someone has dots on her comb like stitches; it’s just mud from our black, clay-like soil. Kona, named after Kona coffee, is apparently quite aggressive and once leapt at our farmer’s face, so we filmed her from a respectful distance. The leader of the Tamago-chan team, familiar from the Shorts, is angry as usual, and even sweet Shiratama has a fierce face today.
The ground is still soggy, so breakfast goes under the roof. Again, when our farmer serves it, everyone lines up nicely. What’s the difference? Haku and Ryu eat side by side. Eri is a spring-born hen like them, named for the black collar-like pattern on her neck (“eri” means collar). Two especially beautiful, elegant hens also got glamorous new names today: the black-and-white one in the back is Tiffany, and the other one is Chanel.
Meet Kintaro
Kintaro is a small bantam rooster with a high-pitched crow, the same type as Kin-chan. As you can see, he’s built for fighting: this type is called a table-top bantam, because in a match whoever falls off the table loses, a bit like sumo.
He’s tiny but tough, and he seems to think we humans are his enemies. He perches up high and pecks our heads whenever we walk by. Today, with two of us there, he played it cool. So our farmer offered a little “sparring” with a hand. Kintaro never gives up: he comes back no matter what, and he has amazing stamina and jumping power. Most rooster fights end when one gets tired, but not with him. He once ranked equal with Heart! A time-out in a cage doesn’t help either; he attacks the moment he’s out. Funny thing: he only does this to people, never to other chickens.
That’s our Kintaro. Thanks for watching Chicken Paradise Hawaii!