Fowl Situation
Each evening Dr. Chuck and Pearl Arnett direct the chickens and turkeys to shelter. The turkey Pearl is holding loves to be petted.

           We recently purchased some chicks from the UMCN ADP (Agricultural Development Program). When we bought 6 layers and 1 cockerel and 6 broilers, we moved the remaining 2 hens, Mrs. Red and Mrs. White, to another outbuilding that was not being used (formerly a pig pen that Bill Fitzgerald had built).

          After the hen house was thoroughly cleaned out, we were able to put new bedding in for our new chicks. They are growing so well. We have not let them out to graze in hopes of keeping down disease. In the meantime someone gave us two roosters as a gift. We put them with the two hens and one of the roosters found it easier to live at the neighbor’s house. Two roosters and two hens are just not the right mix.

          Now we had fertile eggs. Last summer we brought back out a very small lightweight incubator. As an experiment we set 12 eggs. I have played mommy hen for three weeks now. Three times every day I have turned those eggs by hand. I put an ‘x’ on one side and an ‘o’ on the other side. That way I knew which end was up. All the eggs got turned the same way each time. Today is 21 days and we have one peck so far. By putting a flashlight behind them I was able to see that there won't be more then 6 that will hatch. The others did not develop for some reason or other. Now we will see how many of those 6 will make it.

           I remember way back in the early 70's we tried a similar thing. Walt Erberle had a monstrous incubator that was heated by kerosene. He loaned it to us and we set it up in our pantry and I played mommy hen then too. If I remember correctly we had some success, but nothing outstanding. That kerosene incubator was a beast to regulate - hot too. Well we will see.

          We got two turkeys before Christmas, Lucy and Ethel. They both laid eggs some time ago and we let them sit on them. Lucy laid hers first. We had some reason to believe that Ethel was a male. We thought she was Ricky, but as it turned out we found out she was not Ricky when she also started laying eggs and sitting. At that point we wished we had a male. Lucy and Ethel are still very tame and can easily be led into their house at night.

          Frances, the driver, had tried at various times to get a male for us, but to no avail. Finally the turkeys started to lay eggs again. We knew they were not fertile so we collected them. You can tell which turkey laid which eggs because the coloring is a little different.

          At any rate, a couple days ago Frances was able to get us a full grown male turkey. He makes a gobble, gobble sound. His sound is very much different from the female. If you have never seen a male turkey up close, he is something to behold. He is so ugly he is beautiful. When our kids were growing up they were not allowed to say a person was ugly. Chuck did, however, allow them to say a person was hard to look at. Well, you might say this turkey is hard to look at.

          Frances and Chuck brought him home and since he came from the town of Mutum Biyu (two men), he is now named Mutum Biyu. He is dark and has an indescribable face and neck.

          Photo was provided by Lowell A. Gess, M.D.

---

Duff Street Home Page/ Mission News/ Nigerian Missionaries/ Arnetts Arrive in Nigeria/ Medical Emergencies/ Road Trip/ Visit from Chuck, Jr./ Christmas in Nigeria/ Trip to Bambur/ Necessities or Conveniences/ Nigerian Church Services/ UMCN Women's Meeting/ Children are Fun!/ Malam Baba