It was less than a month later when he told me that he had in fact bought one cock and four hens. It is still a little unclear to me with the language difficulties, but I think that he found someone in Texas to smuggle them across the border (which would make them wet back chickens, I guess) and then shipped them to Vallarta.
He had a friend who already had a cock farm who went in with him to purchase the chickens. They cost $1,500.00 if you can believe. Elvis set up four cages for his new chickens, one for each hen. The rooster visits each hen every other day (poor thing does not have his own cage).
Elvis was to feed the chickens in the mornings (his friend who has a government job would feed them in the evening) and pick up any eggs and take them to an incubator. I am not sure where this is, but I guess it is near. Within a few weeks the little chicks started to hatch. Then they needed another coop for the chicks. He constantly complains about the cost of feed. I do not know why. Where did the expression "chicken feed" come from; I thought it would be cheap. He told me that only three out of ten chicks would be males (thus potential fighting cocks). So far out out 50 chicks he has maybe 15 to 20 males. (no I do not know how they tell). His friend (partner in the endeavor) wants to cut the heads off all the hens. Elvis excepts this as a reality but also wants nothing to do with it, nor would he be able to watch. He told me that the chickens know him and as soon as they hear his motorcycle, they all get excited (Once they find out what he intends to do with him, they won't be so happy to see him),
He says he isn't really going to use them cocks for fighting himself, but the idea is to sell them. Unfortunately the cocks have to be a year and a half to two years old before they are ready. He still thinks he will make a lot of money doing this. I told him that although I wanted to see the chickens, I would never want to be near a real cock fight. He then told me that they had planned on having a cock fight on my roof top deck. After I screamed, he said "Just kidding". So when he invited me to visit to see his chicks, I jumped at the chance (I still abhor the, but was curious).
Wouldn't you know it rained that day. The rain started a few weeks earlier, but only at night. When I left and saw the cloud bank, I wasn't really concerned. Before I could get on the first bus, the rain started. I had to change buses at Liverpool. Although I have a good umbrella at home, I did not have it with me, so I decided to try to buy a cheap one. Liverpool is not a town but a department store (the largest and most expensive in Vallarta). The Galleria does not open until 11:00 (They have weird hours here, like every thing else in Mexico). By the time I got back to the bus stop, I was soaked. Fortunately by the time I arrived in Bucerias, the rain was down to a drizzle. I was amazed at the huge yard with dozens of cocks and hens. His friend does use his for fighting. They are huge cages they dwarf the four small ones that Elvis has. He did say that as the chicks grown, he will have to build some big cages along the opposite wall.
His cock is so tame he can cuddle it. He said he was a lover, not a fighter and would never be put out to fight. I was also surprised to learn that they train the cocks to fight by putting on blunt rubber knobs on their spurs (sort of like boxing gloves). I told him that I did not want to watch them training either. Raising fighting cocks is not his only enterprise. Elvis has had two jobs (one day, one night) almost the entire three years I have known him. Currently he is working on opening his own gym. He build the building next to the house he built a few years ago. They gym is already huge, but in time he plans to add a second floor for aerobics
and other related exercises
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