Animal Place, Grass Valley, California

Perhaps the snuggliest of roosterkind, Errol was rescued with his siblings, all of whom were left in cages without protection in pouring rain. He was being raised for slaughter, one of 9 billion chickens raised for meat in the U.S. Had weather not caused their need for rescue, Errol would have never shown humans just how affectionate chickens can be: he will climb into human laps and snuggle down, actively seeking attention just like a dog or cat.

Tamerlaine Farm Animal Sanctuary, Montague, New Jersey

Fiona and Teddy both came from a wintertime Harlem hatching project. No one locally would adopt the fragile chicks during winter, so Tamerlaine took them in with a promise from the teacher to never hatch chicks again and utilize the many resources that do not take advantage of living beings for study. Fiona and Teddy have a ritual of grooming each other lovingly. This is a common behavior among chickens, but these girls are diligent about it with each other, just one way of expressing their bonds of friendship and love.

Peaceful Fields Sanctuary, Winchester, Virginia

Animal Place, Grass Valley, California

Goonie’s future was grim, perhaps no less grim than her present, one of tens of thousands of egg-laying hens crammed into a cage with other hens so that she could not even spread her wings. After about a year and a half, she was to be discarded as trash because her egg-laying was slowing, albeit she still produced well beyond the number of eggs chickens would naturally lay. However Goonie was part of a large scale rescue Animal Place undertook, and she was one of the lucky thousand that got to know freedom, got to experience sun, grass, and compassion.

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Andromeda very likely was purchased as a mail-order chick or from a feed store to be an egg-producing machine and not the wonderfully curious companion she is. When her laying slowed, or her human owners tired of their urban agriculture experiment, she was dumped at the shelter, one of the alarming number of farm animal friends who find their way into SoCal shelters. Andromeda bears a goddess-inspired name, and her beauty matches that of her namesake, though she does not need Perseus to save her from a monster as she is quite content at the sanctuary.

Animal Place, Grass Valley, California

Ching Farm Rescue & Sanctuary, Herriman, Utah

Farm Sanctuary, Orland, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Many urbanites think they are defying the system by getting their own chickens for eggs. However the hatcheries they order from supply the factory egg farms as well. Also, sexing of chicks at birth is not exact and it seems inevitable that one of a group will be a rooster like Andersen. While they avoid the immediate death their brothers face at the hatcheries, these roos often end up dumped at city shelters when their croaking teenage crowing starts. Andersen was a big show off, timid with other roos, but not humans.

Animal Place, Grass Valley, California

Benatar was one of several thousand egg-laying hens taken in by Animal Place.  She and her sisters would have been discarded like waste rather than the living, feeling, sentient beings they are, tragically a fate for millions of egg-laying hens in the U.S. whose laying slows as they age.  No more than two years old when she was rescued, Benatar would only be a considered a young adult, barely out of her teens.  After her rescue, the life of freedom denied her in the factory egg farm was granted at the sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Many roosters are dumped at SoCal shelters, whether purchased from industrial hatcheries who use them as packing material for the hens mailed alive, or perhaps survivors of cock fighting, but regardless their fate is grim as zoning usually does not allow for roosters and the shelter must euthanize them. However Bizzarro won the rooster lottery and Animal Acres had space to bring him into their courtyard flock where he quickly dominated the smaller roos and the humans who thought to snuggle him.

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

One of several dozen hens rescued from a factory egg farm, Lily started her life of freedom by getting to discover grass and sunlight for the first time at the sanctuary. U nlike the millions of her sisters killed when their bodies can no longer keep up with the hyperactive egg laying cycle, Lily escaped a slow death when a compassionate passerby picked up the discarded crates containing the girls and brought them to sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Pickles was part of a messed up mail order delivery of chicks for someone who ordered them online from one of the industrial hatcheries that supply not only the backyard chicken trend, but also the factory egg farms that most urban farmers rebel against, but end up supporting when purchasing chicks from these hatcheries. Often the chicks die in transport, ignored as the living beings they are, especially when shipping errors deposit the chicks somewhere unexpected. Luckily for Pickles and her sisters their rough transit ended joyously in sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres, Acton, California

Green Acres Farm Sanctuary, Silverton, Oregon

Green Acres Farm Sanctuary, Silverton, Oregon

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, Stockton, California

Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York

Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, Scio, Oregon

Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, Scio, Oregon

Sanctuary One, Jacksonville, Oregon

Tamerlaine Farm Animal Sanctuary, Montague, New Jersey

Yuri and his buddy Jupiter were the first two residents of Tamerlaine. Rescued from a hoarding situation, the boys and their unique personalities spurred the founders of Tamerlaine to commit to being a full-fledged sanctuary. Yuri is an outgoing rooster, not fearful of humans, in fact he delights in breakfast jaunts into the house to attempt to steal his human caregivers’ food. Instead of being yet another acquisition of a hoarder, Yuri and Jupiter became family members.

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, Newberg, Oregon