This is Loca, but I call her Bowie because of her mismatched eyes. And her trend setting ways.

I’m at Eastern Shore Sanctuary ^[1] for the week, watching Pattrice Jones completely demolish oppression while I cruise the internet and take photographs, with the occasional cooking and dish washing thrown in. I can’t imagine what kind of world we would live in if everyone worked as hard as Pattrice does. Probably a world with lots of happy chickens.

It’s amazing to watch these birds interact, and to hear Pattrice tell their stories. Michael and Christopher drove up to Brooklyn to pick me up along with four hens and a rooster. The hens are already acclimating to sanctuary life. Here they are on their first day. Well, one of them, and the feet of the others.

It’s a myth that you can’t have more than one rooster around hens. There are maybe 40 or so here. And they all have their own personalities, you’d have to be working really hard not see it.

The fighting roosters learn to get along with one another. The “broiler” hens learn to trust. Dogs lick cat’s faces. Ducks talk to humans. When they say that they’re just stupid animals they are lying. Unless they’re talking about humans.

Just up the street 40,000 chickens are crammed into a shed. Watching one chicken here at the sanctuary living her life, pecking at her food and nuzzling her friend or even having a little tiff, it is mind boggling to imagine the cruelty that humans are capable of. I could never hurt these little guys and of course I can’t see killing one. I guess most people just don’t know, or don’t want to know. Of course some don’t even care.

The thing is, if you open yourself up to it there is suddenly beauty everywhere. And if beauty isn’t your thing, how about freedom?