Who can tell me something about chickens?

[dolorous_ett]

It's such a long time now since I posted the first half of the words-and-chickens story I'm writing for the perposterice challenge that it's in danger of sinking without trace. But I'm determined to try and finish it before the New Big Project begins, in spite of all the work and whatnot I've had to do - and despite the fact that the deadline for said

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[bufo_viridis]

Okay...

First you need to grab a chick... I mean catch the hen, a fowl, a rooster, whatever, don't look at me like this.

Then you make it - using a bit of force, but not so much as to hurt the bird - lay on the side, with the head flat on the ground, sidewise. The ground should be flat, something like stomped earth, sand, sth similar, rather not grass.

With one hand you draw several curved lines, starting from bird's beak and following the beak's curve, more or less. Like if you wanted to "prolong" the beak with a fragment of arch.

If done correctly, you can now release the bird. It would lay flat on the ground, motionless, untill somebody makes a loud noise nearby or stomps near it. I've done it several times and it worked in three for each four tries.

Unfortunately there's not too much backstory of me learning it: a guy in a village when I was helping with tortoise tracking showed it to me. A grim detail was, his grandfather used the way for slaughtering chicken: avoiding risks connected with chopping off bird's head with the axe kept inone hand, while you keep the struggling animal with the other hand...

[dolorous_ett]

Thanks - most enlightening! I'm not sure when I'll be able to put this brilliant advice to work... but I'll keep my eyes peeled for opportunities.

Unfortunately there's not too much backstory of me learning it: a guy in a village when I was helping with tortoise tracking showed it to me.

Not much backstory? Tortoise tracking? Don't you feel any contradiction here?

And did you find the tortoise in the end?

[bufo_viridis]

Well, if you live with tortoise research for a dozen years you stop treating them as something unusual...
Did we find any? There was a year when 202 tortoises lived on my bed :) No kidding.

Long story - I'll tell you once.

[persephone_kore]

There was a year when 202 tortoises lived on my bed :) No kidding.

...Did you sleep in it while they were there, and if so, how?

[bufo_viridis]

I wouldn't mind toroises temselves, but sleeping in six inches of water is not exactly my most preferable form of rest.
No, I was in faraway countries, where toroises are rather eaten than bred.

[persephone_kore]

LiveJournal has decided to catch up on my missing comment notifications -- I'd forgotten about this question.

I thought these were research tortoises... were they also food tortoises? I didn't think they were pets, but I was kind of wondering what led to the bed being the best place for them, especially with six inches of water involved.

[bufo_viridis]

These were European pond tortoies (Emys orbicularis L.), which are not usually eaten (well, if you starve, you'll eat worse things...). To enhance their survival rate the eggs were collected and hatched in artificial conditions, then a bit grown tortoises were returned to the nature. They lived in aquariums with water (it's a water species). So it happened that for two seasons the only place to conduct the ministry-authorised research was our place - and since for a year my bed was not used, it was the largest flat surface to accommodate half a dozen of aquariums.
So the animals were not pets and they were eaten :)
Anyway, tortoises are not too good pets: cats or dogs are much better.