Posted on 04/12/2011 10:56:37 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Since Hurricane Katrina, Ruby Melton's 9th Ward enclave has welcomed a new species of neighbor: clucking, crowing, prancing chickens that dart across streets and nest in the trees.
Animal control officers place the stray chickens with a farmer they call the Chicken Man, LeBlanc said, noting that capturing the creatures is "extremely hard" and often requires the effort of several officers.
The job hasn't proved as vexing for a band of swift, persevering kids who have invested countless hours stalking and nabbing the feathered bandits, said Ed Buckner, director of the Porch, a cultural organization in the 7th Ward. When Buckner a few years ago started a Mardi Gras Indian tribe for youth at the Porch, he wanted to call it "Akanka," after the Choctaw word for chicken.
"Until they started sewing, these boys were running around chasing chickens all day," Buckner said.
The boys opted to call their tribe the Red Flame Hunters, which they thought sounded cooler. But they admitted to a knack for capturing chickens that roost in nearby trees.
Barbara Young and Michael Sartin have fed the birds for decades.
"That let me know there's hope," she said. "I thought, 'We're going to see green again. We're going to have life. We're going to be able to go back home.'"
The couple tries to scare away chicken hawks and owls that fly in from nearby Bayou Bienvenue. They've seen raptors pick off little chicks and even grab grown birds, they said.
"We just watch the chickens live free," said Young, recalling a man who once asked if she owns the chickens. "I said, 'I don't own them. They're just ours. We feed them.'"
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
There’s a joke in this somewhere about Ray Nagin wanting the New Orleans to become a “Chocolate City” again.
Chickens equal food, slackers.
They just need the right guy for the job.
Links provided about a quarter of the way thru the article:
Helpful hints
* Our best chicken recipes
* N.O. best fried chicken
http://www.nola.com/food/?appSession=920211251443305
and
http://www.nola.com/dining-guide/index.ssf/golden_fried_chicken/index.html
Hah!
Barbara Young and Michael Sartin have fed the birds for decades.
SINCE Katrina, less than six years ago, Barbara and Michael have fed the birds for DECADES? Something does not add up...
Why not just kill them?
I call them PREPS!
If recent events at my place is a guide, I’ll happily loan them my two Rottweilers for a week...chicken problem gone!
The cure? A .22 rifle with shotshells, shoot the birds, very little danger of hurting people if managed by hunters. Have a bounty on them, it would be fun and feed the poor, or the shooters family.
The entire article seems to have been written in some kind of smoky fog.
Just my opinion of course.
Sorry. Makes too much sense.
Besides, what about Red Flame Chasers? The all they would have to do with their time is sew.
After reading this article to my dogs, they have put in a vacation request for New Orleans. My Border Collie herds them into the hiding and waiting Red Heeler’s lighning fast clutches. They share the meal. It’s a routine they perfected on our farm, which ran out of chickens. Dogs do not comprehend the supply versus consumption dynamics in a finite economy..................
Ferrel or Federal?
...and given that it was written in New Orleans, I THINK I have a pretty good idea what kind of smoke was causing the fog...
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