PULARAN AAYAPPOM 3
POONKOZHI KOOVIAPPOL
(ABOUT SUN RISE WHEN COCK CROWED)
Dear friends ,
This is 3rd part ofthe posting about hen/chicken/cock/Roost.
I have received a number ofresponses about my first two parts of postings about
hen. Hence I go a littlemore detail as I find the matter gives an interesting
reading to many members.
Sincerely,
Gopala Krishnan 15-3-2021
26 Eathra mark kitti- Kozhimuttayo thara muttayo. (How many marks yougot-
Either hen egg or duck egg?)
Yester years it was a practicefor elders to ask such funny questions to lazy
and not studying children aboutmarks scroed. It was never considered as an
ill-treating or affecting prestige as today.
Today we have to ask children-what is your rank 2nd or first. Even to a lazy
children one has toask about their percentage above 90 or 80.
If at all an unknown grandfatherof modern trends talk of marks in
zeros,immediately our daughter in laws would respond- Father it, was a case of
your period.Not even ours and why you talk such nonsense. The person have to
divertattention else where to keep his face.
27. Pon mutta yidunna kozhi (The hen lay golden egg) / duck
This is the story of a hen/duckwhich laid daily an egg. It was owned by a poor
man. Once he visited the nearbyDevi temple and prayed- Devi, this one egg is
not sufficient for my livelyhood. If it would have been a number of eggs…
Devi decided to test his faith.Devi blessed him that in future it will lay
golden eggs.
The man returned and found thehen laid a golden egg. He took it to merchants
and got money. In a few weeks hebecame very rich.
Most similar to the story of ashtavasus, his wife became greedy. Shewanted to
get all eggs at once and suggested they may kill the hen.
The poor man pleaded- We get thegolden egg because of the blessing of Devi. It
would give only one egg per day.
The wife argued- whether you knowor I know better. Look at the hen’s stomach.
The stomach is full of eggs, if wekill it from stomach we can take
alltogether.
I am not sure whether the lady was so much knowledge just like humans, in the
femaleseggs are already there while on birth and on maturity they get released
one byone per month.
Whatever it was, the hen waskilled and found nothing but intestine. Devi became
angry. When they came outof the shock, found the old hut and hen too lost.
Everything was illusion(maya).
28. Hirayan garbha garbhastham…
Most of us may be recollectingthe manthra in most poojas recited by
sasthrikals- Hiranya garbha garbhasthamHema beejam….. The origin of world
itself is from an andam (Mutta- egg)
29. Egg as a measurement
Very often the size of an egg isconsidered as a measurement of similar sized
things. Some times for theappearance too. The pamparam used to look similar to
egg.
30. Egg as offering in sarpa temple
I have seen in Nagaraja temple atNagerkovil, where actually the real sanctum is
a covered with braided coconut leaves (Metanja Ola) on sides and top not
covered behind the idol. People used to offer eggthere and next day we could
see the shell lying here and there. In Mannar salaand Vetticode temples in
Kerala I have not seen this offering. Interestingly though in Tamilnadu,
KERALA Nampoothiries are working as priests inKanyakumari and Nagerkovil
temples this date.
31. Roosters crowing (Poovan kozhi kooval)
Kooval (a loud and sometimes shrill call) is aterritorial signal to other
roosters. However, crowing may also result fromsudden disturbances within their
surroundings. Hens cluck loudly after laying an egg, and also to calltheir
chicks. Chickens also give a low "warning call" whenthey think they see a
predator approaching.
I have visited poultry farms in Namakkal. Some times on oursight they used to
clack. Somecocks would not mind us at all.
32 Food sharing and courting
When a rooster finds food, he maycall other chickens to eat first. He does this
by clucking in a high pitch aswell as picking up and dropping the food. This
behaviour may also be observedin mother hens to call their chicks and encourage
them to eat.
To initiate courting, some roosters may dance in a circle around or neara hen
("a circle dance"), often lowering his wing which is closest tothe hen.
The dance triggers a response inthe hen's brain, and when the hen responds to
his "call", the roostermay mount the hen and proceed with the fertilization. A
cock may do it at many times inan hour.
The domestic chicken is descendedprimarily from the Red Jungle fowl (Gallus
gallus) and is scientificallyclassified as the same species. As such it can and
does freely interbreed withpopulations of red jungle fowl.
33. Cock at Harappa site
It has been claimed that chickens were domesticated in Southern China in6000
BC However, according to a recent study, "it is not knownwhether these birds
made much contribution to the modern domestic fowl. Chickens from the Harappan
cultureof the Indus Valley (2500-2100 BC), in what today is Pakistan, may
havebeen the main source of diffusion throughout the world."
The chicken reached Europe(Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Ukraine) about 3000 BC.
Introduction into WesternEurope came far later, about the 1st millennium BC.
The chicken reached Egyptfor purposes of cock fighting about 1400 BC
34. Colour of egg
Chicken eggs vary in colour depending on the hen,typically ranging from bright
white to shades of brown and even blue, green,and recently reported purple
(found in South Asia). In Kerala normally blue eggs are felt touched bysnakes
and thrown out as I have seen. Normal hen eggs appear lightbrownish white.
35. Clutch and incubation
Under natural conditions, mostbirds lay only until a clutch is complete, and
they will then incubate all theeggs. Many domestic hens will also do this–and
are then said to "go broody".(Adayirikkal)
The broody hen will stop lying and instead will focus on the incubationof the
eggs (a full clutch is usually about 12 eggs).
She will "sit" or"set" on the nest, protesting or pecking in defence if
disturbed orremoved, and she will rarely leave the nest to eat, drink, or
dust-bathe.
At the end of the incubation period (about 21 days), the eggs, iffertile, will
hatch.
Development of the egg starts only when incubation begins, so theyall hatch
within a day or two of each other, despite perhaps being laid over aperiod of
two weeks or so.
Before hatching, the hen can hearthe chicks peeping inside the eggs, and will
gently cluck to stimulate them tobreak out of their shells. The chick begins by
"pipping"; pecking abreathing hole with its egg tooth towards the blunt end of
the egg, usually onthe upper side. It will then rest for some hours, absorbing
the remaining eggyolk and withdrawing theblood supply from the membrane beneath
the shell (used earlier for breathingthrough the shell).
It then enlarges the hole,gradually turning round as it goes, and eventually
severing the blunt end ofthe shell completely to make a lid. It crawls out of
the remaining shell, and it’s wet down dries out in thewarmth of the nest.
The hen will usually stay on thenest for about two days after the first egg
hatches, and during this time thenewly hatched chicks live off the egg yolk
they absorb just before hatching.
36. Some Eggs do not hatch
Any eggs not fertilized by arooster will not hatch, and the hen eventually
loses interest in these andleaves the nest
After hatching, the hen fiercelyguards the chicks, and will brood them when
necessary to keep them warm, atfirst often returning to the nest at night. She
leads them to food and water;she will call them to edible items, but seldom
feeds them directly. Shecontinues to care for them until they are several weeks
old, when she willgradually lose interest and eventually start to lay again.
Modern egg-laying breeds rarelygo broody, and those that do often stop part-way
through the incubation. However, some"utility" (general purpose) breeds, such
as the Cochin, Cornish andSilkie, do regularly go broody, and they make
excellent mothers, not only forchicken eggs but also for those of other
species—even those withmuch smaller or larger eggs and different incubation
periods, such as quail,pheasants, turkeys or geese.
Chicken eggs can also be hatchedunder a broody duck, with varied success.
37. Broiler chicken
I used to see such board while going formorning walk. I was interested to know
it has any difference with others.
CHICKENS FARMED FOR MEAT ARECALLED BROILER CHICKENS, WHILST THOSE FARMED FOR
EGGS ARE CALLED EGG-LAYINGHENS
Broiler chickens typically takeless than six weeks to reach full size for use
as meat.
For laying hens, they are usedfor meat after about 12 months, when the hens'
productivity starts to decline.
I will continue in next posting
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