Personal Essay
I Lost My Best Friend
Blue was bullying Frank until one of his eyes became impaired, making Frankie look like he had a cock eye.
Is it too ironic if I refer to the term “Best Friend” for a 6-month Rooster?
It’s a bit tough week because before Frankie, about four weeks ago, I lost Bama (my Brahmana Chicken) due to Salmonella.
Then, two weeks after that, my six baby Muscovy ducks (Indonesian translation “Entok”) were contaminated by an avian flu called blue eyes syndrome, spreading like COVID without any mercy.
They died one by one within three days after the first rain poured on Jakarta for the first time in this relentless hot and dry climate.
Frankie was hatched from Brahmana male and Bangkok female. They had two baby roosters, Blue and Frankie. Blue grew much faster and bigger, perhaps it was about asserting dominance.
Blue was bullying Frank until one of his eyes became impaired, making Frankie look like he had a cock eye. I mean, they used to be best friends, and I thought Blue was the one who had an introverted attitude.
At first, I didn’t think he could live longer after the fight, Frankie just sat and made sure his face was covered by leaves or some wall.
Eventually, Blue was taking over my backyard land with lots of hens beside him. Two of my hens and God knows how many ladies were in that backyard because my neighbor is also raising free cage chicken. So, Blue was manifested enough to be a polygamist.
Soon, I started to care for Frankie. I kept seeing Blue approach Frankie near his head, ready to peck, and yet he did nothing at all. And that’s when I realized the brotherhood concept doesn’t apply to chicken species.
Since Blue overtook the backyard, I let Frankie walk in my front garden, near my room’s window. He did nothing but walk 10 meters away from his favorite zone, Areca Palm. Surely, he pooed everywhere, and that’s where I voluntarily spent my 30 minutes cleaning his manure every 5 p.m.
Frankie was so lonely!
I didn’t know how he felt as we never found a middle-ground language to communicate. But he just sat, and I never heard him crowing!
Then, I started to touch him, hugging him. Surprisingly, chickens have warm (almost hot) bodies. He also smelled nice…earthy, and comforting. I didn’t smell his dung at all! Psst, that’s probably because my nose became adaptable due to the 5 p.m. “exercise.”
After a couple of weeks, I suddenly heard a crowing; it was loud because I was in my room. I thought it was Blue invading my front garden. And I looked outside; here was the orange sun’s fur standing firm and crowing for the second time.
Then, I started to touch him, hugging him. Surprisingly, chickens have warm bodies. He also smelled nice…earthy, and comforting. I didn’t smell his dung at all! Psst, that’s probably because my nose became adaptable due to the 5 p.m. “exercise.”
A week before Frankie's last day, I managed to give his biological need to mating. I really didn’t understand as Frankie quite often tried to walk past Blue’s zona territorial, the backyard. Well, Frankie always failed even to cross the backyard fence because his ex-brother waiting like a freaking predator.
I asked Google why my Rooster was crowing every damn minute: “They want to impress the hens”. Got it!
So, I caged Blue, and it took two days to be able to catch him! When I successfully completed the mission, Frankie gave the hammer to 6 different hens. I laughed as I heard Blue screaming as he saw his land being colonized by some dude he thought was weak.
Frankie died on Sunday, September 24th, 2023.
It was an unexpected loss because there was no symptom, but something was wrong when Frankie was still in his “bed” at 8 a.m., and for six months, never had I seen the crest on the top of his head turning purple-black.
Everything happened so fast, and around 4:30 p.m., I lost my best friend. He put his body right in front of my window room, from where you can see in the picture below; it is two meters away.
I saw myself in Frankie, and for that, I think everyone, including animal, need a little help to survive. It is almost impossible to live happily without a soul’s companion, animal or non-human animal.
Thank you for reading my story.
