Hen with Ten

As David backed in to the farmhouse parking space there was a back up warning beep when none had been there before.  We were about to stop anyway.  I got out of the car on the mauka side next to the front door to check it out. 

OK kids, we gotta go

Cheep, peep, cheep, peep, peep

A fat brown hen was silently and slowly making her way across the front porch area.  The ten newly hatched chicks were not silent, however.  Their peeps were loud and continuous.  Peep, peep, cheep, cheep, peep, cheep, peep, cheep, cheep, and a peep.  Five light brown and five black.  They were falling down, bumping into each other, and trying to follow mama.  Several went under the board beside the shed and had a hard time figuring out how to get out.  There was a big step up to the shed floor that required jumping/flying.  As they moved, Mama let out a soft regular gutteral sound which I understood to be a way of letting them all know where she was.  They slowly made their way to the back of the shed and then she sat down on the ground next to the compost pile.  Soon all the chicks were settled underneath her feathers.  She sat contentedly for quite a long time while David and I worked in the garden nearby. 

David and I watched her march her scattering, clumsy chicks from the house to through the shed.  She never fluttered or squawked.  She kept them all in sight and made sure they followed her.  Other hens we've seen run away as soon as we are near.  The roosters are a bit more fearless.  This hen was calm and confident and maternal.  She looked fatter than other hens around the yard.  I almost wondered if she was going to lay more eggs.

Yes, all 10 chicks are under there.

Under natural conditions, most chickens  lay only until a clutch is complete, and they will then incubate all the eggs. Many domestic hens will also do this–and are then said to "go broody". The broody hen will stop laying and instead will focus on the incubation of the eggs (a full clutch is usually about 12 eggs). She will "sit" or "set" on the nest, protesting or pecking in defense if disturbed or removed, and she will rarely leave the nest to eat, drink, or dust-bathe. While brooding, the hen maintains the nest at a constant temperature and humidity, as well as turning the eggs regularly during the first part of the incubation.

The hen will usually stay on the nest for about two days after the first egg hatches, and during this time the newly hatched chicks live off the egg yolk they absorb just before hatching. Any eggs not fertilized by a rooster will not hatch, and the hen eventually loses interest in these and leaves the nest. After hatching, the hen fiercely guards the chicks, and will brood them when necessary to keep them warm, at first 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. She continues to care for them until they are several weeks old, when she will gradually lose interest and eventually start to lay again.  I am guessing that these chicks are at the most, two days old.

Last week two or three times we heard hens squawking continuously for over an hour.  Mary said they were protecting their eggs or nest from the mongoose.  Well, if it was this hen, she had reason to be protective.  Ten chicks is the most I have seen.  Feral chickens are lucky to raise even one that will survive.  This hen seemed to know what she was doing, so it will be interesting to watch how many she is able to keep alive.

Two days later we drove up the driveway and encountered two more hens with chicks, both of whom did not want to give up the road.  They each only had 4 chicks.  They were black hens, very thin.

I write blogs quickly just to give my impressions and basic information.  However, the following is a quote from Garrett Hongo's memoir "Volcano".  He is a poet who found a whole book.  I love how he describes Hawaii chickens:

"The hens were black bantams, reds, and Japanes whites.  Their feathers sometimes shone iridescent in the Volcano drizzles, their beaks yellow as light breaking through a fault line in the clouds."

Kohala Ditch Adventure

In front of Pinzgauer

Feb 22, 2012 Marnie and Jon Isaacs, Donna Cherrier and I ventured North to the Kohala Ditch Adventure.  The entrance was just past Hawi.  Hawi is a little town that is full of art galleries, quaint old plantation worker homes, and a couple good restaurants.  We snacked on the 1 ½  hour drive and arrived at 1:00pm, a half hour before our scheduled departure.  Here is another site describing the tour.  This company also offers ATV adventures to the beach, the mountain, or both.

Inside Pinzgauer

We got to watch the group of ATV adventurers mount up and ride off before our Pinzgauer ride up the Kohala mountain starting our trip.  We had 8 in our group.  Amazingly, a cute young couple with us was from Wasilla, AK!  The ride included a cool drizzling rain which is typical in this area.  But by the time we started our trip, the rain stopped. 

Hola and a flume

We walked along the ditch for awhile to our put in point.  There are several spots where there is a gate and boats cannot go through, and we walked past one to get to where we could get into the boats.  The boats are like kayaks, except they are inflatable and have no seats, just a puffy middle.  One can hold up to 5 people, but it would be knees up crowded. 
In the first boat, our guide Hola was in front, then Donna, and I picked up the rear and was given a paddle and headlamp.  Jon and Marnie were next, and then two couples paddled the boat bringing up the rear.  We were instructed to turn on our headlamp before we went into a tunnel.  Paddling was mainly keeping the boat from hitting the sides of the ditch.  The current was sufficient to keep us moving.

There were ten tunnels.  They are dark.  Headlamps were necessary.  Hola said, "What happens in the ditch, stays in the ditch".  The first one was curved, so we could not see any light.  Hola pointed out Japanese writing on the walls in several of the tunnels.  She was quite knowledgeable.  She had stories to tell and gave us lots of information about the tunnels and the area throughout the whole journey.  I wish I could remember all the facts about the construction.   I think she said this whole system was built by Japanese workers in 1906 who each earned $1.00 per day.  It was, and still is, used to irrigate the area for farming.  About 7 people lost their lives building the ditch, mostly from premature dynamite blasts.

In 2006 the area had an earthquake and much of the ditch was destroyed.  Two years later and 5 million dollars, the ditch was repaired by the corporate owners, and the tours resumed.  The tour company leases the ditch.  Donna Cherrier remembers going on a tour before the earthquake.  Our guide said she was one of the original guides when the tours started in the 90’s. 

view along the way

The second tunnel was the longest, 1,800 feet.  However, you could see the end the whole time so it didn’t seem so long.  One tunnel was “air conditioned” so we tried to hurry through it.  Even if it was a hot sunny day, we were in the tunnels most of the time, so I was glad to have my long sleeve rash shirt on and paddling shorts. 

Our group in a flume

Hola asked us at one point what tunnel we were in.  I hadn’t counted after the second one, but I said 6.  We were actually in the 9^th tunnel.  Along the way she pointed out a sledge hammer head, and a bucket, both left behind by workers.  This irrigation system has been in use for over 100 years and still functions well.  True, you can see lots of holes in the concrete reinforcement along the sides, moss growing, drips in the tunnels, but what an engineering feat!  We traveled a total of 2 ½ miles and dropped about 9 feet in elevation.  When we disembarked, we were served water and fruit drinks and macadamia nuts. 

The drive back to the headquarters was in jeeps this time, with the dripping boats tied on top.  We changed clothes and left our tip and finally headed out.  We got a 20% off coupon for a return trip or for the ATV adventure.  I want to take that one.

Pololu valley sign

Don’t you always want to go to the end of the road?  It was just 15 minutes away to the Pololu valley lookout.  There used to be a nice hike into the valley from there but Hola said the earthquake took out portions of the trail.  The whole drive from home was 67 miles north past Halaula to the lookout.

The drive past Hawi to this point looks out onto the seas between the Big Island and Maui. This is very treacherous waters. We could see the white caps as far as we could see ocean.

We drove back along the Kohala coast looking for whales and checking out some small beaches and camping areas along the way.  One beach was the end of an old plantation railroad line.  The train station was still there with a date of 1930 engraved on it. 

View of valley

We did see a couple whales before joining the main highway off Hwy 270.  Donna said she bikes from around this juction into Hawi and back.  It is a slow, steady gentle climb, and then downhill on the way back if you want to try.

I really appreciated Jon driving us the whole way and back.  He had three women in his car!  And the Big Island is BIG!