“Unfortunately, it’s a place where people illegally dump trash. There are always big piles of random garbage bags and broken furniture,” says Taylor. “This time, amongst the trash was a wheelbarrow, and I climbed over an embankment to have a look at it. That’s when I saw what I initially thought was a wounded hawk or falcon in the brush. I could just see moving brown feathers and some spindly legs.”

As it turned out, “it was three very hungry chickens, abandoned among the trash piles.”

The birds were frightened, likely having experienced cruelty and neglect at the hands of humans. But, starving and weak, they seemed to realize that help had arrived and didn’t need much convincing to go into the carrier that would bring them to safety.

“I drove back to Farm Sanctuary real quick to grab a kennel, some food, water, and a big net in case they were difficult to catch; they were not. When I set out some food and water, they ran right over to it,” recalls Taylor. 

“So I put the kennel down with the door open and moved the food bowl inside it. Within a few minutes, they were inside it, too.”

After receiving veterinary care and testing negative for bird flu, the trio arrived at Farm Sanctuary in Acton, their forever home. 

They were likely discarded because someone considered them unprofitable. In animal agriculture, animals are treated like commodities. But at Farm Sanctuary, they are valued and loved for who they are, not what they can produce. 

Each of these chickens is an individual who has now been given a name: Ravenna, Blossom, and Soledad, named for Soledad Canyon Road, where the birds were rescued.

All three chickens have already received attentive care for feather loss. In the photos below, see Ravenna’s remarkable before and after—and this is just the beginning, as the birds will continue to heal from the neglect they survived.

“I felt so lucky to be able to save them,” says Taylor. 

Because Taylor was in the right place at the right time, three little birds are very lucky, too.