<2022-10-26T01:28:12.000Z> Everett_True: I noticed that your profile picture is of a pair of Fairy terns. My workplace is a major nesting site for them. Today me and groundskeeper got to watch one of the fledglings take flight for the first time.
<2022-10-26T02:02:12.000Z> Everett_True: Lucky. No raptors on this island.
<2022-10-26T02:45:15.000Z> Everett_True: Hah, chickens? Feral chickens are overrunning the state here. There's literally over 100 ferals on our campus alone. The state? God knows. That's what happens when there are no raptors.
<2022-10-26T02:46:09.000Z> Everett_True: And yes, I do feed on flock of ferals. They are chubby chubby half-wild chickens.
<2022-10-26T02:46:48.000Z> Everett_True: As a diet of stale bread and tropical centipedes will make chickens be.
<2022-10-26T02:49:47.000Z> Everett_True: What kind of chickens do you keep?
<2022-10-26T03:05:19.000Z> Everett_True: Yup, barred rocks are the only one on the list I can get. Imports are pretty restricted here, so breeds are kind of frozen in the late 60s early 70s. Now, if you're interested in gamecocks, that's another matter, since the black market here is very strong.
<2022-10-26T03:05:36.000Z> Everett_True: I'd love Jersey giants or Brahmas.
<2022-10-26T03:06:36.000Z> Everett_True: I don't complain much about the the strict bans, though. It's kept the bee breeding industry here very strong.
<2022-10-26T03:07:09.000Z> Everett_True: We're one of the places people go to get pure lines for those.
<2022-10-26T03:08:02.000Z> Everett_True: No Ligurians, sadly, but no mite infestations, or Africanized genetics.
<2022-10-26T03:08:39.000Z> Everett_True: Heh, by now I've said enough you can exactly doxx where I live if you wanted to.
<2022-10-26T03:14:37.000Z> Everett_True: My enthusiasm about aviculture and apiculture.
<2022-10-27T01:49:53.000Z> Everett_True: Nah, but I worked with people who did keep bees and rented them out for pollination. I did have chickens, but Covid caused me to get evicted and I had to move to the city. I rehomed most of my flock, and a couple ferals I hand raised I moved to my workplace. It's pretty easy to keep chickens here. There's laws about flock size and keeping of roosters, but generally speaking, people don't give a shit and they aren't enforced, particularly since the island is overrun with ferals anyways. Breed choice is pretty limited due to strict agricultural import bans, but I don't mind those too much, it sucks I can't get Jersey Giants or Brahmas, but it's also nice not having a lot of disease problems you get on the mainland. 
<2022-10-27T02:08:54.000Z> Everett_True: Hah, I'll see what I can photograph. I live in an interesting place ornithologically speaking. 
<2022-10-27T02:20:36.000Z> Everett_True: There's lots of rare birds here, though not as much as 100 years ago due to Avian malaria being accidentally introduced. It wiped out entire clades of species here.
<2022-10-27T02:22:23.000Z> Everett_True: This island isn't too good for finding those guys, though. Elevation is too low, so I stick mostly to introduced species and seabirds. I lack a good photo setup, though. You really need those telephoto lenses. 
<2022-10-27T02:46:01.000Z> Everett_True: Mosquitos hitched a ride here on boats. Some dumbass decided to dump their bilgewater into the streets rather than into the ocean. The mosquito larvae grew up. Later imported birds came with the disease and the mosquitos spread it into the endemic populations that had zero resistance to the disease.
<2022-10-27T02:48:58.000Z> Everett_True: It's why the import and animal and plant quarantine laws here are so strict now. Between stuff like that and agricultural diseases that wiped out crops, it's a pretty good idea, though it's not complete. Recently the coffee crop is under attack from the coffee borer beetle, because some jackass somewhereb brought unroasted beans here from Indonesia or Vietnam.
<2022-10-27T03:42:08.000Z> Everett_True: Well...
<2022-10-27T03:44:32.000Z> Everett_True: twistedsifter.com/videos/last-bird-of-its-kind-singing-for-mate-that-will-never-come/
<2022-10-27T03:45:47.000Z> Everett_True: That was the last of the species, last of its genera, last of it's family.
<2022-10-27T03:48:02.000Z> Everett_True: It's a story repeated in every isolated island chain.
<2022-10-28T07:29:15.000Z> Everett_True: Oh, I actually had Auracuanas, they made it here. Also I'm not kiwi-land, but culturally pretty close. Hawaii. Like kiwi-land however, the bird fossil record is amazing, and a job I had in the past gave me first hand experience with it. Flightless gigantism happens on isolated chains pretty often.
<2022-10-30T02:15:25.000Z> Everett_True: My Auracanas were kinda black market. The guy I bought them from solely raised them and Black Marans. He "appropriated" some unused state land behind his house for the purpose of raising those two breeds. The reason I think they weren't legit imports is because I've never seen either of those two breeds on any of the registered hatcheries lists here in state, though it's not like someone is going to come and ram down your doors for having chicken breeds that aren't official runs. They more care about imports and new alien species. Goodness knows there's a huge demand for black market gamecocks here. I could more easily get an obscure Asian gamecock breed than some of the more common mainland heirloom meat and egg breeds. I'm just glad there's a chicken autist here who got really into Auracanas and Marans and wants to make them established in backyard flocks here. 
<2022-10-30T02:17:58.000Z> Everett_True: Yeah, it's most definitely hot and wet here. It's October, which means daytime highs finally dipped below 85 degrees. Anything below 75 degrees daytime weather is sweater weather here. I knew a guy from Wisconsin who was amazed by all of us wearing three layers during a cold snap where the daytime high was 73 degrees. 
<2022-10-31T01:04:37.000Z> Everett_True: Heh, here people just go and grab a feral as a brooder. They tend to be very good at raising babies, though they often are a bit aggro to the domestic hens in the flock and are apt to go wandering. I used ferals to hatch. One would always get out of the yard and into the neighborhood but would always come back by night to roost. The other got more domesticated in behavior, at least.
<2022-10-31T01:05:58.000Z> Everett_True: I never raised quails. I have heard the stories, though. Couple of the breed are remarkably fecund in this climate, which is good considering how much attrition they have.
<2022-10-31T01:06:22.000Z> Everett_True: Have you had any experience with guinea hens?