Stephen

Stephen was liberated from a live market in Queens, NY during Kaporos in September of 2020. Kaporos is a religious ritual that takes place annually during Yom Kippur in which practitioners use chickens “as Kaporos” to abolish their sins. They do so by swinging birds by their wings around their heads, saying a prayer, and then slaughtering the bird as a means to abolish their sins by proxy. Animal Rights Activists attend the live markets and liberate as many birds as possible each year. Stephen was liberated and we offered him and his 9 other siblings a safe landing at Uncle Neil’s Home.

When Stephen arrived, he was in rough shape. He is a Cornish Cross chicken, and his breed is used in the industry as a “broiler” or “meat” chicken. Broilers are genetically bred to grow twice their size in a short period of time, therefore, chickens who are rescued live very short lifespans because their damaged bodies cannot sustain a healthy life. When Stephen arrived at the sanctuary, he received immediate medical care and we nursed him back to health after a very rough start to his life. He has overcome his health issues from his first few weeks of life and grown into a gentle, sweet rooster!

Stephen is an absolute lovebug and he is so intelligent! While we were building his new coop, he slept in the barn at night and every morning when we opened his cage, he jumped out and ran all the way to his run for breakfast! He often beat us there! His favorite activity is climbing on top of his new coop and letting out a loud “cock-a-doodle-doo!” He spends his days foraging for clovers, taking dust baths in the sun, and hanging out with his buddies Red and Hildy the Rooster.

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