The Cyberactivist

It's five AM and the roosters have started to crow. Actually, the first scattered crows started about a half an hour ago but it's only now that the sustained crowing has started. It's an hour until sunrise yet but some of the roosters start crowing just before dawn. That's the origin of the saying "up with the chickens."

I'm a night person and a city girl by birth (I grew up in Baltimore), so I never imagined that I would be getting up with the chickens every day. Yet here I am, up and out of the house at sunrise six days a week (my partner Miriam handles the seventh).

The roosters who start crowing the earliest are the feral ones who choose to sleep in the trees rather than in any of the coops. You can see pictures of chickens in trees and other sights you usually don't see at the Eastern Shore Sanctuary picture gallery at http://www.bravebirds.org/pix.html

The birds start their day at sunrise and end it at sunset. We've had to learn to pattern our days the same way. The times of sunrise and sunset change throughout the year and our schedules change along with them. I like that. I feel much more in tune with the rest of the natural world because the timetable of my day is set by the sun rather than the clock: Up at sunrise, check on the birds at midday, check again in the late afternoon, close the coops at sunset. Of course there's a whole
list of chores associated with each time (as well as plenty of periodic chores) and those often are no fun. But there's something good about doing basic things that need to be done according to a natural schedule.

You can read an account of a full day here at the sanctuary at http://www.bravebirds.org/day.html

That was written a few years ago, so some things have changed. We have three coops and a lot more birds now. But one thing never changes. No matter how I feel in the morning... no matter what troubles have been worrying my mind... no matter how upset I might be about this or that, when I see those formerly caged hens flying (yes, flying) out of the coop in the morning, everything is okay. It's a great way to start the day.