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 ...
I agree. #6’s would do quite well.
That would be a lot of work for the brothas and sistahs you know, since they got a KFC roun the corner.
How long until they are a protected species by the US Government?
And, Ruby is evected from her home because the government is going to designate her property as a natural habitat for the protected species. Then the government will establish an agency of 100 people to oversee the protection of the species and will tack on a local tax to pay for salaries, benefits and chicken feed. See what you have done, Ruby, by feeding those d@m chickens!!!
They aren’t really that hard to catch, you just have to condition them. Start with feeding them in a specific area, then put up a few poles, then put some wire between a few poles and gradually do it until the wire forms a pen with a gate. Then shut the gate.
Peel them & eat em. Love that chicken from Popeye’s.
IIRC, feral chickens, if left to their own devices, will after several generations revert back into pure jungle fowl with all their truly wild characteristics.
“That would be a lot of work for the brothas and sistahs you know, since they got a KFC roun the corner.”
Are we talking about the same bruthas, sistas and muthas?
And how ‘bout the bruthas who are called muthas?
You want a piece of me?
Exactly my thought.
I remember once in a city that shall remain unknown, we had some rats in the alley. A light placed in the alley and a small dish of leftover spaghetti from the night’s meal was all that was needed for a evenings entertainment shooting rats with 22 birdshot.
Since it is New Orleans, I believe that would be a Popeyes. Paging Al Copeland.
Perfect tourism opportunity for Louisiana. Promote feral chicken hunting trips. The sound of gunfire is nothing new to New Orleans.
And then eat'em.
I just checked... Ain’t none round the Popeye’s store. Zero... zilch...
New Orleans Saints’ replacement players?
Is there a difference?
Yes. They will once become the wily, cunning and relentlessly efficient predators they were before man tamed them and turned them in to the weak and idiotic creatures we know and eat today...
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