“In honour of International Respect for Chickens Day, I'd like to share Natalie's story. I discovered Natty and her sister Marlene after a livestock auction. Unsold, they were about to be stomped to death. Although on an investigation, I scooped up the chicks. What I immediately discovered was that their primary need was not food or water but kindness and mothering. The only way any of us got any sleep was if I kept my hand over them, as their mother would have with her wing. I had to continue this nighttime ritual for weeks as the chicks grew and became more confident. Maternal absence is forced upon all chickens bred for meat or egg production. They hatch in large industrial drawers with hundreds of others, never knowing the love and security of a mother hen. Chickens are extraordinary and complex beings with needs and desires very much like our own. They deserve our respect - this month and every month and every day.”
– Twyla Francois

Twyla Francois is a painter and farmed animal investigator in Canada. Her paintings evoke what she has seen. View Twyla’s paintings and share them with your friends. You can also buy Twyla’s prints and merchandise.

Twyla tells her courageous story of growing up in a small, religious farming community in Manitoba, Canada, in Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice, University of Illinois Press. Available from United Poultry Concerns.