Jametaka

 September 11, 2019

A quick note about the date: People were generally aware of the 9/11 attacks and knew about Osama Bin Laden. They were also aware of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyways, later in the day I decided to visit Emma who lived high up in the hills by Lado Oeste. I had previously passed by her home when I was taken to check out the intercommunity trails that run through the hills.

I met with her and her husband Enrique and got to know a bit about them. Most vividly, I remember Emma being annoyed with the word Öreba. Supposedly, it's the Ngäbe word for cacao. However she claims the name is improper and gave me 2 other names that she deemed appropriate for cacao. Ironically enough though, I don't remember the "true" names.

We also discussed chickens as she had a decent flock foraging around.

"Los pollos de campo son fuertes." She would tell me. "Las gallinas que compras en la tienda ponen más huevos, pero se enferman y no duran."

As the sun was setting I advised her I needed to get back. She then scooped up a small chicken, inspected it, then handed it to me as a gift.

"Llévelo contigo, déle de comer, y cuando esté gorda, matalo y cómelo." She said, laughing.

"Oh, no sé si puedo hacer eso." I replied. "Si le da un pollo a un voluntario, probablamente va ser más como una mascota. Si lo cuido, no pienso que puedo comarlo."

"Ni comerás sus huevos?"

I looked at the chicken which managed to escape the kra she put it in. She eventually managed to lure it back over to her with rice, before getting a hold of the chicken again.

"Es una hembra?" I asked.

"Sí."

"Entonces, te traeré algunos pollitos cuando nazcan." With that, I held the young chicken in my hand and descended down the hill. At the time, her body was no bigger than a fist. When I returned to Juliana, she knew that the new chicken protocol involved securing them in a kra for an extended period of time. Otherwise, the chicken will try to run off in search of familiar territory.

Jametaka

Under Juliana's house, the chicken would grow. I would supply corn feed to supplement her outdoors diet. Chickens are actually scary beasts if you consider the point of view of the insect or small lizard. Like being chased by a dinosaur, really.

Much of the advice I received regarding chicken rearing would come from Juliana, who once tended a large flock before having Mei. As my chicken grew, she recommended I switch from normal chicken feed to pig feed as pellets are easier for larger chickens to eat.

I asked how it was one could distinguish (young) male chickens from females.

"Por como caminan y actúan." It was something you learned after raising chickens for a while. Though she did initially have some doubts about the gender of my chicken.

Jametaka In Biological Transition

Being at the bottom of the pecking order, she would instantly flee should any chicken come to challenge her over food. As such, I would have to place her in a coop-like structure so she could eat in peace. But this became problematic as she became harder and harder to catch. Luring failed as she stopped approaching food if I was nearby. Fortunately however, she would follow me (at a distance). This allowed me to walk a ways away from the other chickens and to place the food in a hidden area.

Her pacificity was why I chose to give her the ironic name of Jametaka, which means "fighter (f.)" in Ngäbere.

The "campo" chickens around are quite diverse coming in various colors and patterns. There are some that are devoid of plumage above the collar-bone. Others, like the one pictured below appear to have a set of hair and a beard.

Caption Not Needed

Jametaka however was identifiable as the only chicken in the community with feathers running down her legs. Juliana admitted she had never seen a chicken with plumy legs, but I did find a few examples in Ladera.

When I eventually moved into my own home, I decided not to bring Jametaka. The underside of my new home was bare, offering no perch or any place to eventually nest. Though my new home wasn't too far, it was beyond Jametaka's usual range. As such, I prepared to go each morning to Juliana's in order to provide feed. After a couple days, I woke up and Jametaka was at my door. This became a daily occurrence, with her coming by each morning and some afternoons for food before returning back to Juliana's.

Observing chickens for a time shattered my preconceived notions of their (lack of) intelligence. Jametaka proved adaptable to her circumstances in order to secure food and evade other chickens. Outside of Jametaka though, I noticed the chickens were quite sociable (at least with each other) and you'll notice that certain chickens like to group up with each other. To add it all up, when a raptor appears in the sky, a wave of chicken calls go out and the chickens immediately seek cover under the houses while the dogs work to keep the predator away. There was a lot of free time to be had, a lot of mine was spent just observing chickens go about their day.

Sometime in February, mating season occurred (Coincidence? I think not). Roosters made a re-appearance and Juliana informed me that Jametaka started making a certain noise indicative that she would begin to lay eggs.

Sure enough, she started laying eggs in a nest-box.

I asked about the particulars of egg-laying. Summarized, chickens go through cycles so each hen is capable of laying more than one batch. A rooster is necessary to produce fertilized eggs. Every day or so, a chicken will lay one egg before going about its day as normal. Once a chicken has laid all their eggs for the cycle (Around 15-20+), they will begin to sit on their eggs. I had thought previously that if the egg wasn't incubated, it would die. But until the hen begins to sit on the eggs, the chicken embryos will not develop. The fact that the hen begins incubation after all eggs have been laid is the reason they all end up hatching around the same time. Of course, a hen can't effectively sit on (or raise) all the eggs they lay. As such, you're doing a service by removing at least some of the eggs.

A Cluster of Jametaka's Eggs

Jametaka Laying an Egg