At the request of one of our loyal readers and friends, curious about chickens in Bali…. (Sharon ~ this is for you!)
In descending “pecking order”, forgive the pun…
Royalty chicken: They roam free in a beautiful village…
Fighting chicken – ok fighting cocks, really…
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| These small rattan cages are seen everywhere ~ housing roosters until they fight one day. Technically gambling on cock fighting is illegal, but everyone does it and it often accompanies ceremonies. |
To be honest, there was a great photograph to be had after the 30 year ceremony we attended. I walked by as the men attached razor blades to the legs of a fighting cock, ready for battle. Drawing blood, is part of a purification ritual (in some clans, men have ceremonial fights using plants with extremely sharp thorns which draw blood as well.) But, as a photographer I failed ~ I chose not to take the picture as my own emotions of revulsion overcame me. An interesting note about cock fighting… A local told us that the loser gets used for chicken soup or satay while the winner either goes on to sire offspring of champion cock fighters or keeps fighting until he looses.
Rural chicken – eat a little, play a little, provide some eggs to the folks who take good care of them…
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| This rice farmer works hard at “shooing” the chickens away who were eating her harvest while she spreads it out with a rake, to dry in the sun outside the family compound. |
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| Love remains strong after many years of rice and chicken farming. |
Proletariat chicken – these poor animals are destined to the Kentucky Fried Chicken fryer…
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| Chicken coops amongst the rice paddies… each holds 5,000 chickens destined to be slaughtered and eaten. |
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| It’s probably better than most chickens destined for the plate in the U.S. as at least these are “free range” and not in tiny cages. However, they look unhealthy and unhappy and so fattened up, that they are unable to walk around. |
Thanks so much for the great chicken report. The only disturbing part is the cock fighting and I’m not sorry you chickened out on taking those pictures! The meat birds in the last photo are clearly near harvest. It’s normal for that breed to grow so fast they can’t walk by the end. Their pen looks clean and airy and they aren’t too crowded. Way better than factory conditions here. The rice farmer has to worry more about that chicken pooping on his rice than about her eating a few grains! I do love the royalty rooster. Really dresses up the place. I hope you enjoyed documenting these creatures as much as I enjoy seeing them, and now you’ll include chicken cameos in all your posts.
It was a very conscious choice that I made in the flash of a second to not take a photograph of that moment. As a photo “journalist” it would be my job to capture that… Fortunately I can make my own choice to not photograph animal cruelty. (Unless of course it can raise awareness and potentially have impact ~ not the case with this tradition that is very ingrained culturally.) I changed the caption under the photo of the “meat birds” as now I understand why they looked so pathetic and unhealthy and why they were not moving. They could not. It is important I think, for people to have some idea of what they are eating and what the life of that food is before it gets to their plate.
Yes… we enjoyed focusing on chickens as Ben used to have chickens in France, and has always been fascinated by the wide range of plumage. (Chickens are also the symbol of France.) We will certainly have chicken cameos as part of our continuing animal posts. Thanks for your comments!
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You are most welcome. Welcome to Green Global Trek.
Peta