I’ve been questioning my chickens’ growth. I’m pretty sure they were about seventy centimeters tall yesterday (and fifty at the end of April), but I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me because I’m with them every day. But even I can see a change when it happens overnight.
“…What should I do?”
I can’t keep up with this rapid growth. I wonder if it hurts.
“Does growing like that hurt?”
I ask while tilting my head, and they all copy me. Dammit, they’re so cute despite being huge.
“Your bones and stuff grew all of a sudden, right? Does it hurt somewhere? That’s what I’m asking.”
“Asking.”
“Asking.”
“Asking.”
“…That’s on purpose isn’t it…”
I guess they don’t feel anything wrong with their bodies.
“…A veterinarian… Wouldn’t know. We’re talking about chickens with reptilian tails…”
They’re too good to be lizard tails. They’re like dinosaurs. Let me ask for permission and touch them.
They’re slick and pretty tough. I can feel bones in them too. Maybe they’re feathered dinosaurs.
“…I assume they can’t cut these loose.”
They really aren’t like lizard tails. And when I ask them to open their beaks, I see many serrated teeth. Scary. My chickens are so scary!
Looking it up shows me normal chickens have no teeth. Apparently they have something called an egg tooth on their beaks right after hatching, but it goes away soon. These really are carnivorous chickens! Actually, there aren’t any teeth that really assert that. Seriously, what are you?
“I wonder… If more people bought them that day…”
And did they grow like this too?
Let’s picture it…
“Hm… But they’d stand out if they did…”
How many people bought those colored chicks in the first place? And then there’s also Katsuragi’s dragon, and Aikawa’s Rin and Sen. Surely, if everyone was raising beings like these, people would be talking about it. It’s such a strange case.
“If something happens, tell me.”
There’s no point in thinking about it. I have to go shopping today, so I’ll get rid of some weeds before then.
I can’t pull them from the roots away from my house, so I’m using an electric mower. Although I still pull them from the roots near the field.
Thanks to the organic pesticide I made by copying that certain idol, there are no bugs around the field too. But the chickens don’t really go near it either. Then again, they eat bugs, so maybe I don’t even need that pesticide. Still, I want my crops to grow safely.
The cucumbers are starting to ripen. The mustard spinach is starting to grow too, so I’m pretty happy with that.
And as I feel all warm and happy about the idea of eating stuff I’ve grown, my phone rings. It’s pops.
“Are you coming today?”
“Yes. I’m going shopping, so I’ll drop by before then.”
“Then have lunch here.”
“Yes. Ah, my chickens got bigger, so don’t be alarmed.”
Him and his wife tend to look after me, and call me a lot like this. I decline when I have stuff to do, but once in a while, I accept.
“Vegetables… They grow them over there too…”
As I’m thinking that maybe I should get something for them, Pochi walks over to me with something big in its beak.
You’re kidding…
“Eeh… A rabbit…”
It’s a wild rabbit. It has short ears, and long hind legs. And it’s struggling in Pochi’s beak.
“Pops, what should I do with a rabbit!?”
I call him quickly, and he says they’re a near-threatened species here, so I should release them if they aren’t causing damage. That’s a relief.
“Pochi, go further back and release it. He said rabbits are no good.”
Pochi obliges, and runs with the wild rabbit in its beak. Rabbits look cute, but they can be harmful animals in some places. They can be dear pets, but they also eat crops and tree bark, so they can have an effect on forestry.
“Well, it used to be common in Japan to eat them…”
Back then, they used to be counted as birds in the Japanese counting system, because they hop so much, although that’s not really the case anymore. I think it was the fifth Edo shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa’s law of compassion towards living beings that started it. It’s not like this was mainly aimed at animals, it was mostly to safeguard abandoned children and sick people, but animals came as a bonus. Birds didn’t count towards that law, so people treated rabbits as birds and ate them.
Some called this an evil law, but the protection of abandoned children continued. Wait, this is about rabbits.
They’re called harmful animals, but I haven’t felt any harm from them. So that’s how it is for me. Apparently they’re pretty harmful in Australia though, and it’s even illegal to buy them in some states. But that’s because humans were the ones who brought them there.
Rabbits and deer look cute, causing people to feel sorry for them, but that’s because they’re not the ones harmed by them. It’s easy to pass judgment, but we should think more deeply about it.
I carry the bottle with the pit viper I got after the last time I went there (how long is it going to be before they stop? This mountain is too dangerous), and apparently Tama is the one accompanying me today. Tama’s pretty strict, so I have to get my act together. But how though?
“Let’s go. I’ll be back by sunset, so patrol until then.”
I leave the mountain to Pochi and Yuma, and run along in the mini truck .
How long do chickens live? I can’t imagine life without them anymore.
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