Even if someone is introducing me, it’s still bad manners to just go there the same day,
What am I supposed to wear? Should I bring something? I need to check these things, because I don’t want to be rude. I’m not planning to take a tour of the farm or anything, but I don’t want to make pops look bad.
Two days later, I visit a house on a mountain, in the eastern outskirts of the village. There are four long, single-storied barns near it, and also what look like tanks on top, but I’m not sure what they are.
These are all broilers, and people here don’t deal with eggs. Apparently chickens are shipped from here for consumption after seven weeks.
“Hello, my name is Sano, and I was introduced to this place by Yumoto. Thank you for having me.”
Today I’m just here to learn, so I only brought Yuma.
“Are you a relative of Yumo? The guy living on Mount Sawa, right? Call me Matsuyama.”
“No, Yumoto is a friend of a relative.”
He looks like a nice middle-aged man. And then he turns to Yuma next to me, and his eyes widen.
“Hey… That’s huge. It looks like a chicken, but not…”
“Eh? It’s not a chicken?”
I guess Yuma is bigger than regular chickens, but it never occurred to me that it isn’t one. It’s big, has a reptilian tail, but I still only see a chicken.
Yuma tilts its head as it hears this. Cute.
“Well… I’ve never seen a chicken this big. Maybe it’s a fowl or something, but those aren’t this white…”
He’s looking at Yuma with a serious expression. I agree that one meter tall chickens aren’t exactly normal.
By the way, fowl are galliformes and phasianidae too. They’re said to be close relatives of the ancestor of the common chicken, the red jungle fowl. I know they can fly a little, but I don’t think they can become giants.
“Hum, it’s looking pretty docile now, but is that how it is normally? Or is it quick to start fighting?”
“Well… It catches pit vipers, but it’s normally quiet like this.”
“It catches pit vipers!?”
He’s even more confused now. Sorry about my chickens.
“Well… Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
Yuma follows me without hesitation too, so I have it stay on the dirt floor.
He kindly asks me what my chickens eat, so I tell him stuff like vegetable scraps, and he tells me Yuma can eat the ones in the corner of the dirt floor.
“He says you can eat that over there.”
Yuma then lowers its head like it’s saying ‘got it’.
“It understands you… It’s smart.”
Matsuyama is impressed.
I brought rice crackers as a gift, as always. Sorry for having a one track mind. If there’s anything else I can get, please tell me.
“You didn’t have to. I’ll take them.”
His wife takes them and goes to the back. I think she’s putting them by the household altar.
“…I feel like it’s bigger the more I look at it.”
Says Matsuyama, earnestly.
“It looks pretty healthy but… You wanted to talk about vaccination?”
“Yes. They’re healthy now, but who knows if they won’t get sick.”
“Sure…”
It looks like he’s thinking.
“Vaccination methods depend on the vaccines, but we mostly do it by spraying and putting it in the drinking water. But if your chickens are quiet, I recommend a combined DPT-IPV injection.”
“Injection…”
Yuma is one thing, but I can imagine Pochi and Tama kicking as hard as possible if we did that.
“Or nose drops. They’re free range, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then drinking water is probably not gonna work.”
He says if I want to get them vaccinated, I should bring them here next time the vet comes by. Of course, it’s going to cost quite a bit of money, but I didn’t expect it to be free.
Apparently there are active vaccines and innactivated vaccines. Active vaccines are administered through eye and nose drops, spraying, and drinking water. Inactivated vaccines are administered through injections. I want my chickens to always stay healthy.
I wasn’t planning on it, but I get a tour of the barns. Of course, Yuma doesn’t tag along. I also wear protective clothing, and get disinfected from top to bottom. And I not only change shoes, but get them disinfected too. I see you really have to be mindful of hygiene when you deal with livestock. Good thing I didn’t just drop by unannounced.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and I see that they really think about how to create a proper environment for the chickens. I should be more mindful of mine too.
I figure it’s not their area, but since it’s related to chickens, I ask about the colored chicks sold in the spring festival. He says he doesn’t know about them, since they’re stocked by the stall-keepers (although he still says sorry). And he also says that those are males that aren’t fit to be sold for meat. Then what about Tama and Yuma?
They’re going to contact a vet for me, so I should come the day the vet is scheduled to come. Thank you.
But what about Katsuragi’s dragon, and Aikawa’s Rin and Ten? I guess they can’t bring them to a vet.
“Have some chicken too, while you’re here.”
“Are you sure!?”
I feel like Yuma is glaring at me, but chicken tastes so good cooked on a hot plate. Chicken’s so good! I love karaage too! I also get plenty of frozen chicken they took apart themselves. How should I thank them? I need to think about that seriously, and how to thank pops too.
And as I look after the mountain, in preparation for the rainy season, I contact Aikawa.
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