A group of Band and Orchestra students stayed after-school on Freshman Orientation Day to clean up the band room. When most of them were packing up to leave, they opened the doors to a friend—a chicken.
Liane Dumalan (c/o ‘28) was inside but heard a commotion outside.
“I looked to see what they were screaming about, and there’s a chicken right at the door,” Dumalan said. “I just started laughing because everyone was freaking out, but the chicken was trying to jump on everyone.”
Upon the first sighting, Dumalan said the chicken “looked like he got into five million fights.” A distinct feature this chicken has is its absence of a mane, as it is cut off. This aspect made some students question the chicken’s gender. The chicken’s appearance was also “very dull [and] skinny.” Other students also described him as “bald and beaten up.” Gabriel Hussey (c/o ‘28) compared the chicken to a little Malay—which is a chicken often used for fighting.
Dumalan named the chicken when someone asked, “What’s his name?” She shouted the name “Gilbert” and it stuck.
Since then, the band members started taking care of him, giving him water and even attempting to train him to do tricks.
“That’s why he’s kinda fat now,” Dumalan said. Students even created a social media page dedicated to pictures of Gilbert.
Gilbert has become accustomed to living around the band room and is often greeted by the students. He is often found perched on the yellow bench outside the band room, which is called his “pooping corner” by the students, as there is a pile of his poop underneath the bench.
The chicken has been found slipping into other parts of the students’ lives. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the marching band practices for their upcoming performances on the baseball field in front of the band room.
“During marching rehearsals, Gilbert would come onto the field and march with us,” Marvin Nakamura (c/o ‘28) said.
Although the exact reason Gilbert keeps coming around the band room and has decided to make it his home is unknown, Dumalan said that it is because he keeps getting fed.
Furthermore, students believe that Gilbert has become a unifying figure to the program. Dumalan said she believes he brings the students together. “If someone has beef with someone else, but they both love Gilbert, that’s something in common.”
Nakamura also said everyone greets him daily. “Every time someone walks in, they say, ‘Oh, hi, Gilbert,” he said.
However, Gilbert’s presence and behavior has raised some concerns. Dumalan noticed that Gilbert sometimes runs away from the students, which she thinks might be a sign of abuse. Hussey and Nakamura said one time, a student tried to feed Gilbert chocolate. This made them wary of feeding the chicken, as doing so does a lot of harm—especially when ingesting chocolate.
She said he will always come back though, since he knows the band will care for him.
The first instance of Gilbert not appearing at the band room was on Sunday, Sept. 8 after their marching band rehearsal. Students reported that they were not able to find Gilbert and searched through trees, bushes, and W Building. The social media page dedicated to the chicken created a “missing poster” and students in the program reposted it on their own pages. The next morning, Gilbert was found again around the band room.
Although Gilbert’s future with the band is uncertain, students continue to care and look after him as he remains a daily fixture at the band room. “Gilbert is part of our ‘ohana,” Dumalan said.
