Chickens Roost to Sleep

The last animal I stopped eating was chicken. I don’t know why I continued to eat chicken for so long. But I must have had a wrong-headed idea about chickens. In July of 2018, I spent some days visiting my brother on his farm. 7 chickens and 2 roosters roamed the fields at their own will. These chickens were hybrid chickens–beautiful red and pink colors. One night we saw a fox on a far away hill and it looked as if it might be feeding cubs. This meant trouble for the chickens. We had already lost one chicken due to a unsuspected hole in their pen.

The next night around dusk we thought of a plan. There was an empty horse van, so we turned it into a safe home. We added some boxes so they could roost up high. After the chickens had gone to roost in the barn, we carefully picked them up and carried them to the trailer. When you carry a soft roosting chicken it is like carrying a very small baby to bed. All the playing and clucking is over and the soft bird is in a deep trance. The chickens are inn an unusual sleep–one eye open and one eye closed, but in what is called “tonic immobility.” They play dead and are unmoving. The next night at dusk all the chickens lined up outside their new home. Smart chickens liked their safe and calm home.

•  If you want to read more about animals and their intelligence, read Peter Wohlleben’s book called The “Inner Life of Animals.” Animals love. Animals grieve. Animals have compassion.  I try to imagine the inner life of animals and I will never forget carrying the sleeping  chickens to their roost.  And let us not forget all the animals–the pigs, the chickens and other animals–which we lost in the hurricane last week.
• Now I must be truthful and say that I have eaten some meat since having a stroke. I was given Plavix which I was highly allergic to and I lost a lot of blood.  I turned anemic and was told to eat some meat and I slowly did. But I have never been happy with it. Animals and yes, chickens give me great hope  and happiness.